True Destiny
by OldWineNewBottles
Summary: The Straw Hat Pirates have finally achieved all their hopes and dreams after finding the One Piece, but after receiving a disturbing letter, Nami must return home to find her missing sister. Luffy and the others insist on going with her. The group faces their biggest challenge yet and discovers that their true destinies are yet to be uncovered. Luffy x Nami
1. Chapter 1: A Disturbing Letter

**Chapter 1**

**A Disturbing Letter**

"NAMI!" the boy in the straw hat screamed at the top of his lungs as he stood on the pile of rubble that once was Arlong Park. "YOU ARE MY NAKAMA!"

The memory echoed in her mind as she stared down at the unfinished map she had been working on for the past week. Nami sighed quietly to herself so as not to let any of her other crewmates overhear.

It had been years since she joined the Straw Hat Pirates. After what they did to save her and her village, she was only too happy to become their navigator. Over the time spent at sea, they had sailed all over the world, from East Blue to West, North to South, and even went in the Grand Line and came out again with the world's greatest treasure: One Piece. In fact, it wasn't a treasure made of gold, silver, or precious gems. It was Gold Roger's personal captain's hat that he had somehow combined his own spirit with. Gold Roger's spirit only spoke to the first person to touch it who ended up being none other than Monkey D. Luffy. He was now the rightful heir to the title of King of the Pirates. The One Piece might not have been something that was worth money, but besides that, Gold Roger had left a mountain of gold and other precious metals and gems along with it on the distant island of Raftel. The Straw Hat Pirates were the richest men and women in the world.

Now that they were done with that, Luffy's next goal was to find his mentor, Red Shanks. Word on the wind was that he had disappeared after a fierce battle with the Sea King and everyone thought him to be dead, but Luffy, being Luffy, refused to believe it. Now that he had the One Piece, and a mountain of treasure, he was absolutely sure that he would find Red Shanks somewhere out on the vast ocean.

In fact, everyone in the crew had achieved their dreams. Zoro defeated the man who was considered to be the greatest swordsman in the world, Dracule "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk, who had a one point been a mentor to the green haired swordsman. Sanji found the All Blue, where the East, West, North and South Blues met, and had the cooking extravaganza of his life. Usopp had had countless adventures that he could tell to anyone who would listen and he had found his courage to stand up to any challenges that would come his way. Chopper had found peace within himself, being a talking reindeer and all, and he had also become a world famous doctor following in his mentor, Dr. Hiruluk's footsteps. Robin found many of the answers that she had been looking for about the mysterious past of the One Piece in the Rio Poneglyph and upon the Straw Hat Pirates' arrival to the Island of Raftel, she was able to uncover the true mystery surrounding the poneglyphs and the history of the Grand Line. Franky, having already fulfilled his dream of creating a prized pirate ship that could withstand any trial, was content to stay on the Thousand Sunny as a Straw Hat Pirate and tend to his beloved treasure of a ship. Brook's goal was fulfilled when the Straw Hats reunited with Laboon, the monstrous whale of the Grand Line. Brook was finally able to fulfill his promise to his dead comrades and played their final song they had sung together for the whale on the tone dial that Brook had kept safe.

Everyone's dreams had been fulfilled. Everyone's except Nami's. Her dream would require much more time. A lifetime, to be exact. She wanted to draw a map of the entire world. As much as she had traveled with the Straw Hat Pirates, they had not even come close to exploring all of the vast oceans that covered the earth.

Nami stretched her hands in the air and looked over at the shelves upon shelves of books, navigation tools, and her own maps. So far, she had diligently found the time to draw maps of everywhere the crew had been despite her crewmates' love of getting into trouble and being obnoxiously loud literally ALL the time. Luckily, Robin understood Nami's need for privacy and quiet so that she could concentrate on her maps, and Nami was thankful that Robin often stepped in to fill the "mother" position on the boat and calmed the boys down when things got out of hand.

Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, and Brook…all of them were really her nakama. Perhaps to other people that didn't mean as much as it did to her given her past. For the first 18 years of her life, she had no nakama. The only people who gave a rat's ass about her were her dead foster mother, Bellemere and her foster sister, Nojiko. She had swallowed her anger, hatred, and pride after Bellemere's murder and joined the crew of the very pirate who killed her. Arlong. For eight long years, Nami slowly but steadily stole the money she needed from other pirates to pay Arlong the 100 million berries to buy her village back. Not only until her last visit there did she realize that Nojiko wasn't the only one who knew, but Gen, the village leader, and the rest of the villagers knew as well. Then Luffy and the others had come to her rescue even when she had stolen the Going Merry, along with all the rest of their money, and abandoned them.

A knock at the door snapped Nami back to reality causing her to drop her pen on the desk.

"Nami?" It was Robin.

"The door's open. Come on in," Nami called without getting up.

"Nami," Robin said again after shutting the door behind her.

Nami smiled when she heard the commotion outside caused by the male members of their crew.

"Mail's come in."

"Oh really?" Nami said. "First time in weeks!"

Robin nodded. "One's for you."

"Me?"

The dark haired beauty tossed an envelope over to the surprised red head. Robin nodded. "From your village, I believe."

Nami immediately opened the letter. Mail was a rarity, especially when out at sea. Only every few months would Nami receive a letter from her old village, but this time the letter was different. A small gasp escaped her lips as she quickly put a hand over her mouth.

"Nami?" Robin looked over from her side of the room, pausing as she placed the newspapers and other mail on her desk. "Is everything all right?"

Nami's eyes were wide with shock and she was trembling. She couldn't respond.

Robin swiftly walked over to Nami and took the letter from her hands. After quickly scanning it, she realized why the navigator was so shaken up. "Nojiko," she said softly.

Nami's trembling turned into outright shaking as she nodded her head still unable to speak.

Robin had never met Nami's older foster sister, Nojiko, but Nami had told her all about her and the rest of her village. Nojiko was all the family Nami had left in this world and according to the letter she had gone missing from the village. Since mail was hard to deliver across the oceans, the letter was about a month old.

"Nami," Robin said and put a hand on her shoulder attempting to comfort her. "This letter's a month old. Maybe they've found her by now."

No response.

Robin knew it was unlikely. The only reason that this letter was sent out to Nami in the first place was because Nojiko had already been missing for some time before it was even sent. The villagers wouldn't have wanted to worry Nami unless they were unable to find her for at least a good number of days.

"R-Robin…" a small, weak voice managed to sound from the trembling girl. "She's my only family. I…I have to go back."

Robin looked down at her close friend. She knew that Nami would have to go back, no matter how much the rest of the crew would hate losing her. Unless… "We're going with you, Nami."

"What?" Nami said in surprise and looked up at Robin. "No! We're so close to finding Shanks. The intel we have now won't be the same later and if we all go back to the East Blue now, Luffy might never get this chance again!"

Robin smiled and knelt down so that she could look Nami in the eye. "It's ok. I'm sure Luffy wouldn't mind a detour. Besides," she lifted Nami's chin and wiped a tear away. "What kind of sister would I be to you if I wouldn't help you find your other sister?"

Nami's tears streamed freely down her face now. "Robin!" she cried and threw her arms around her.

"Sh, it's ok, Nami."

"Oi! Nami!" Luffy practically bust down the door as he barreled into the girls' room. A huge smile was on his face. "You gotta check this out! Usopp and I…" he trailed off. "Nami?" he asked confusedly.

Robin shot Luffy a disapproving look. "Read this," she said shortly and handed Luffy the letter.

"Hm?" Luffy's wide, usually blank eyes filled with concern after a quick glance over the letter. "Nami…"

"I'm afraid we're going to have to make a detour," Robin stated simply.

Luffy nodded in agreement.

"No!" Nami suddenly burst and stood up shocking the other two in the room. "I mean…I'll just take one of the small boats and go on my own."

"What? No way!" Luffy said in his usual overdramatic way waving his arms above his head.

"Nami."

"No, I…I don't want to run the Thousand Sunny off course now. We finally have the One Piece and we're so close to finding Shanks! If we go back to Cocoyashi now then we may never have another chance like this again!" she repeated.

Robin stared at her bunkmate with her dark, satin eyes. Her expression was hard to figure out as she crossed her arms. She then looked over at her captain awaiting his response. As much as she wanted to help Nami, having the whole ship abandon their current mission wasn't exactly her decision to make.

"I'll be fine," Nami insisted to Luffy when neither Robin nor Luffy said a word. "I am a navigator. It's not like I'll get lost. A-and you guys'll have Robin and Franky so you can keep going to find Shanks!"

"Nami…"

"Nami," Luffy interrupted. He was completely serious now which was rare considering he was usually the most illogical, fun-loving, immature 24 year old you'd ever meet.

The two girls immediately gave their full attention to the newly crowned Pirate King.

His serious expression turned into a smile. "I want all of us to go back to Cocoyashi together."

Nami opened her mouth to protest but was cut off by her captain.

"Shanks isn't dead and he's not going to be dead for a long time. Besides, it's our fate to see each other again, so I'm not too worried about it."

Robin nodded her head in confirmation, a smile crossing her face. "As I thought."

"Robin. Luffy," Nami said in a shaky voice her eyes on the brink of tears again. Even though she and her crewmates had been together for a long time and they had all sacrificed so much for each other more times than she could count, it always struck her when someone else did something nice for her when for so long in her life she had never had that kind of companionship.

"We're nakama, aren't we?" Luffy said now with a huge smile on his face. He put one arm around Nami's shoulders and the other around Robin's.

"We most certainly are," Robin nodded in agreement.

Nami's smile finally broke through and she also nodded unable to express her gratitude.

"All right!" Luffy said walking towards the door. "Time to set a new course!"

"Right," Nami said regaining her control.

"I'll go tell the crew!" Luffy flung open the door and started to sprint out the room but was held back by one of Robin's devil fruit arms.

"You don't even know where we are let alone where we're going," Robin stated calmly.

Nami laughed. "That's right," she said and pinched her captain's rubbery face. "I'll go out and tell the crew."

Luffy pouted sullenly. "Don't laugh at me because I can't navigate. That's why we have a navigator!"

"Exactly," Nami said and reopened the door that had swung shut again. "Let's set sail for Cocoyashi!"

"Cocoyashi?" Usopp asked in surprise after overhearing Nami's last statement.

Nami nodded. "Yeah, uh…something came up and I have some business to take care of there."

"Business? What business? We're hot on the tail of Red Shanks! How can we go all the way back to East Blue now?" Usopp asked naively.

Nami smiled as she patted her long-nosed comrade on the head. "Because it's MY business, Usopp," she said cheekily.

"And since when did YOUR business take precedence over anyone else's?" Usopp said hotheadedly.

"Nami-swan's business always takes top priority!" Sanji interrupted as he appeared from seemingly nowhere in between Usopp and Nami. "Isn't that right? Nami-swaaaan?"

"That's right," Nami said. "Thank you, Sanji-kun."

"That didn't answer my question," Usopp sulked to himself.

"Oi, Luffy," Franky called from the deck below when the captain appeared out of the room.

"Hm? What's up, Franky?"

"Is what Nami's saying true? Are we abandoning our chase to go to the East Blue?"

Luffy's broad smile stretched from ear to ear as he nodded. "That's right!" he said. "If one of us has business back home then that means we all have business there! We're nakama!"

Franky smiled back. "Of course, captain!"

Zoro, who had been taking a nap on deck lifted an eyelid and glanced over at his captain to show his support.

Chopper and Brook who had been on the top deck experimenting with different processes to give Brook more arms so that he could play the violin, guitar, and harmonica all at the same time, stopped what they were doing to see what was going on.

"East Blue?" Chopper called down. "Are we heading out of the Grand Line?"

"Oh, the East Blue!" Brook said dramatically. "I've never been there before! What music I shall write to commemorate my visit there!"

"That's right!" Luffy said. "Change our course! We're heading back to the East Blue!"

"Aye aye!" the crew shouted in unison, even Usopp.

"All right," Nami said. "We're pretty far west so we need to head south by southeast. 120 degrees!"

"Aye!"


	2. Chapter 2: The Gate Back to Normal Seas

**Chapter 2 **

**The Gate Back to Normal Seas**

Soon the Straw Hats were on their way back towards Loguetown, the only place where ships could enter and exit the Grand Line. It took them a lot less time to get out of the Grand Line than it had taken them to get so far into it since the ocean itself seemed to want any ship that dared to sail in to get out as soon as possible. Within the week, the Thousand Sunny was out of the Grand Line and back into the normal oceans that they hadn't seen in so long. From Loguetown, it wouldn't be long before Nami's hometown island was in sight, but first they needed to restock up on supplies. Although they had spent years in the Grand Line and gotten to know the extraordinary climate changes, unpredictable currents, sea monsters, and not to mention other pirates and brave marines that had the strength to even enter the Grand Line, they were not unscathed as they made their exit. The stop at Loguetown was a necessity.

Once they docked their ship, the crew split up to gather supplies that they felt were needed for their voyage to Cocoyashi. Franky of course stayed on the ship to fix up the damage received from their exploration of the Grand Line, and Brook also had to stay on the ship because unfortunately for him, the people outside the Grand Line weren't as used to living skeletons as the people in the Grand Line. In fact, they weren't used to living skeletons whatsoever.

Nami didn't want to go into town either so that she could spend a little time thinking about what she could do about her missing sister once they got to Cocoyashi. Even Robin couldn't convince her to go even though she said that there was a huge sale going on in town.

The navigator went into her and Robin's room once everyone else was gone and shut the door. Brook was playing his violin and harmonica loudly as usual giving Franky some companionship as he fixed the ship. It wasn't that Brook's music was annoying her, it was just that Nami wanted some time to think. But before she could settle herself down to do so, Luffy bust in the room as usual without knocking.

"Luffy!" Nami screamed in surprise. "When will you learn to knock?"

"Huh? Knock?" Luffy said in his ignorant innocence. "But Nami!" he continued on a completely different train of thought. "You should come into town with me!"

"I already told you all that I wanted to stay here!" Nami said with a huff.

"Nope. You need to come into town with me," Luffy repeated.

"Did you even hear what I said?" Nami said now exasperated.

Luffy smiled broadly and grabbed her hand. "All right! Let's go!" he shouted and dragged her out of the room.

"Luffy! I said I didn't want to go!"

"It'll be awesome! We can go eat some meat! And then we could go see the market and eat more meat!"

"Luffy!" It was no use. Once Luffy made up his mind about something it was nearly impossible to refuse him. Besides, she wasn't even sure he registered the reason why she would want to stay on the ship anyway. It was never really clear how much the rubber man could actually comprehend and how much went in one ear and out the other.

The pair went downtown and cruised the different shops and restaurants. At first Nami didn't want to buy anything, but with Luffy's insistence and the great sales that were going on, plus the fact that in the Grand Line there wasn't nearly the selection that Loguetown had, she couldn't help herself.

Luffy of course stuffed his face full of meats and other foods as they went their way. One thing he loved about big towns was the fact that the food wasn't cooped up in restaurants but out on the street with seemingly endless numbers of vendors selling all sorts of sweet and savory foods. No matter how many times Nami had eaten with her captain, it never ceased to amaze her how much food he could hold.

At the end of the day, the crew all returned to the Thousand Sunny and prepared to set sail the next morning. Nami could finally sit down and think since her skills wouldn't be needed until then, but when she put down all the stuff she had bought on her bed and actually did sit down to think, the only thing she could think about was how much fun she had had with Luffy that day. Then it hit her. Luffy didn't want to drag her into town just for the heck of it, he wanted to drag her into town so that she would stop worrying about something that she couldn't do anything about at the moment anyway. Everything he had done that day had been for her peace of mind and she didn't even realize it until now.

"Luffy…" she whispered to herself.

It was nearing midnight when the crew finally settled in their bunks and hammocks to sleep. Brook however was always awake since he didn't really need to sleep, being a skeleton and all. He was up in his usual spot in the rafters strumming on his guitar and quietly singing a song about his first venture outside the Grand Line as a member of the undead.

Nami quietly slipped out of her room so as not to disturb Robin to get some fresh air.

Being on the Thousand Sunny, with the soft music in the background, on a calm sea, overlooking the beautiful town of Loguetown without fearing that a storm could pop up any second that would end their existence was soothing to her. She leaned over the side of the ship and looked at the thousands of lights that danced in the nighttime darkness of the town. She took a deep breath of fresh sea air in and then exhaled slowly. In one sense, this was paradise for her. This was what she had left her hometown for.

Then something caught her eye that startled her. Up on the front of the ship sat Luffy looking out over the town as well. Nami hadn't seen him until then because he was sitting so still and silently. That was unusual for him. It was also unusual for him to be up at this hour. His love of sleep was second only to Zoro's.

Nami quietly walked closer to the ship's front. "Hey, Luffy," she said softly so as not to surprise him.

"Hi, Nami," Luffy said without turning around and without any hint of surprise in his voice.

Of course he knew she was there. Nami laughed at herself for thinking that she could sneak up on him in the first place. Although he didn't look it, and most of the time he didn't act like it, he was probably the most perceptive one of them all. "What are you doing up so late?" she asked casually.

"Looking," Luffy said simply.

Nami rolled her eyes. He always said such obvious, blunt statements that never really answered the question. "Oh, well…" she paused to find the right words to say. "I just wanted to say thank you for taking me into town today."

"Yeah. No problem!"

Nami smiled. "I didn't realize at first why you wanted me to go so badly, but now I know that you just didn't want me to worry about Nojiko."

That made Luffy turn to face her, a huge smile on his face. "Nah, I just wanted to spend some time with my nakama!" he smirked.

"Huh?" Nami raised an eyebrow. That was an unexpected answer, even coming from him.

"Don't get me wrong. I love our crew now, with Robin, Chopper, Sanji, Usopp, Franky, and Brook, but I was just thinking back to the time when it was just the three of us."

Three of us meaning Luffy, Zoro, and herself. "Oh," was all she could say.

"We were just starting out on our adventure," Luffy said as he leaned back against the railing.

"Yeah, we were."

"Even with just the three of us, we still made an awesome crew, huh?"

Nami laughed. "Well, remember I wasn't really part of the crew then."

"That's what you think," Luffy said and stuck a tongue out at her.

Nami reciprocated the gesture and laughed. "All right. You got me. We did make a pretty good crew."

"Yeah," Luffy said looking up at the sky. "You guys were always so serious, you know?"

"What? Is that a bad thing?"

"Not at all. I liked making you guys laugh. Now we have a whole bunch of us that can laugh together, but I liked being the one to make you laugh."

Nami raised an eyebrow again, slightly confused at his statement. "Oh, I get it," she said with a smug look on her face. "You liked being the annoying one, huh? Well, don't worry. Out of everyone on this ship, you're still the one that gets on my nerves the most."

"Good," Luffy said with a laugh. "That'll always be my job."

Nami pretended to sigh and rubbed her temples like she had a headache. "Wow, thanks a lot, Luffy."

"No problem."

The two fell silent as they watched the stars, both the real ones in the sky and look-alikes on land.

"Nami," Luffy said breaking the silence. "Don't ever think of leaving me again."

"Hm?" Luffy seemed to be full of confusing statements that night. She knew he was usually blunt and everything, but he wasn't usually this serious so suddenly. And what exactly did he mean by don't ever leave "me"? Didn't he want everyone to stay together? "Luffy, I…" She looked up at him.

He had his hands behind his head and was still looking up at the night sky.

She sighed and looked back down at the water. "You know that I wouldn't leave because I wanted to. It's just…Nojiko…"

Luffy heard the faint sound of a covered up sniffle. He swung his legs over the railing and jumped back down on the deck next to his navigator. "Don't cry, Nami," he said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll find Nojiko no matter what."

Nami managed a smile and nodded. She had learned to trust him. Trust Luffy. He'd never broken a promise to anyone as far as she knew, and he had made a lot of promises throughout their adventure. Everyone's sad story seemed to affect him to the point that he would take them personally. But that was Luffy. He cared about everyone and everything, even someone like her who had tricked, backstabbed, and abandoned him and the rest of the crew on multiple occasions. "Thanks, Luffy."


	3. Chapter 3: The Welcome Back Party

**Chapter 3**

**The Welcome Back Party**

A few days later, the Thousand Sunny finally docked at the familiar shore off Cocoyashi village. Chopper, Robin, Franky, and Brook had never been there before, but the others smiled in remembrance of when they defeated the Arlong pirates, freed the island folk, and saved their precious navigator.

"Yohohohohoho!" Brook exclaimed as he leaned out over the railing to get a closer look at the town. "So this is where Nami grew up!"

Nami nodded. "Yup. It sure is."

"It's so quaint! So peaceful! Why, I think I'm feeling the beginnings of a song! The place from whence my true love came!" He whipped out his guitar as he began to break out into song.

"True love?" Sanji yelled at the skeleton. "Nami-swan is not YOUR true love, she's MY true love!"

"Yo ho ho!" Brook laughed in Sanji's face. "Someone like you could never understand what it means to have a true love."

"What did you say you empty headed sack of bones?"

"Hey, you two. Stop making such a fuss," Robin said calmly but with authority.

"Oh, but I didn't mean that Nami-san was my only true love, Robin-chwan!" Sanji said quickly afraid that he had left Robin out. "You are, of course, my true love!"

"See? That's exactly what I mean," Brook said.

Sanji shot Brook a death glare which would've done nothing anyway since he was already dead.

"All right!" Luffy said. "Let's get going! I'm sure Gen will be happy to see us again!"

"A-am, I allowed to go with you?" Brook asked tentatively.

"NO!" Sanji yelled.

"Sure!" Luffy said at the same time. "This village has seen Grand Line people a lot. They won't be scared of anything!"

"YAHOOOOO!" Brook yelled as he ran off to get his things.

"Oi, Luffy," Zoro said. "Are you sure letting a walking, talking skeleton into the village is a smart idea?"

"Of course!" Luffy said. "Brook isn't scary at all!"

"Maybe not to you," Usopp said.

"Anyway, we should get going," Robin interrupted motioning over to Nami who was staring out into the town with a half scared half excited look on her face completely oblivious to what her crewmates had been discussing.

"Right," Usopp said. "I'd like to visit all of my adoring fans from back when I, Captain Usopp, defeated the Arlong Pirates!"

"Uh-huh," Franky said. "I'm sure that's exactly what happened."

"It sure is! AHAHAHA!" Usopp said completely missing the sarcasm in the shipwright's voice.

"What are we waiting for then?" Luffy yelled. "Let's go!"

The crew unloaded themselves onto the dock and began their walk into town. Since the Going Merry had been demolished and the Straw Hats had a new ship, the townspeople didn't seem to recognize them until…

"It's Na-chan!"

"Nami!"

"Nami-chan!"

The whole village seemed to drop what they were doing and rushed over to greet the young red head.

"Hello, everyone!" Nami greeted enthusiastically. "It's been a while!"

"It has indeed!" a strong deep voice said from within the crowd.

"Gen-san!" Nami cried and ran over to hug her old friend.

"Nami," Gen replied giving her a squeeze. "It's been years!"

She nodded. "How's everyone been?"

"Well," Gen trailed. "We've all been fine. Great, actually, since Luffy and the others drove off Arlong and his crew. Business has been booming and our town has grown a little since you left, but…"

"Nojiko."

Gen nodded. "Maybe we should talk about that later. But first you must introduce us to your friends!"

"Oh, right!" Nami said. "You all remember Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji, right?"

"How could we forget our heroes?" one of the villagers said with a laugh.

"Yeah, they've all turned into legends around these parts."

"Of course!" Nami said joining in the laughter. "Well, this here is Chopper," Nami said pointing to a shivering ball of fur attempting to hide behind Robin's leg. "He's our doctor."

"Aw, he's so cute!" one of the children cried.

"Yeah!"

The children began crowding around Chopper trying to pet him.

Chopper, overwhelmed with all the compliments and attention did his usual routine of laughing nervously and blushing saying that he wasn't that cute or that amazing for being able to talk, but of course he was loving every minute of it.

"Chopper's hiding behind Robin, our historian and archaeologist," Nami continued.

"Hello," Robin said with a smile.

"There's Franky, our shipwright."

"Yo."

"And Brook, our musician."

"And how do you all do this fine afternoon?" Brook said overdramatically as he took off his hat and bowed low to the ground.

The crowd of villagers turned silent, including the children, as they all took in the walking, talking skeleton in front of them.

"AHHHHHHHH!" some of the women screamed as they ran for their lives back into their houses.

The men didn't scream but did take several steps back, all shaking with fear.

"It's a walking, talking skeleton, Mom!" one of the village boys said fearlessly and began to poke at Brook's bony leg.

"Excuse me, son," Brook said with a frown. "That's musician to you."

"I told you, Luffy," Sanji said as he lit a cigarette.

Gen immediately burst out laughing. "HAHAHA! I would expect nothing less from the Straw Hat Pirates!" he roared.

The other men began joining in the laughter as the women reemerged from their dwellings.

"Told you, Sanji!" Luffy said with glee. "Brook's not scary at all!"

"Well, he is a little frightening at first," Robin mused as she crossed her arms.

"I cannot help the wretched state I am in!" Brook cried and operatically put the back of his hand up to his forehead.

"All right, let's get you guys inside," Gen said patting Luffy on the back. "Hungry?"

"YES!" Luffy, Usopp, Zoro, Chopper, and Franky all shouted together.

"Great, because we're going to have a feast in your honor!"

"YAHOO!" Luffy shouted and punched the air. "Will there be meat?"

"Of course, you dummy," Nami said rolling her eyes.

"YAAHOOOO!" Luffy shouted again.

"And a whole lot of booze," Gen added which made Zoro nod in approval.

And it was a feast as Gen said it would be. The whole village came out bringing dish upon dish of delicious foods. Sanji was glad to be able to be fed without having to make it himself giving him more time to get acquainted with the ladies of the town. Zoro, Franky, Usopp, and Chopper were all enjoying themselves with kegs of beer and lots of food. Luffy was of course running around the feast eating anything and everything he laid eyes on.

When people began to settle in their places to eat after all coming to greet Nami and the heroes, she, Robin and Gen sat down at a table.

"Gen-san," Nami said in a serious tone. "About Nojiko."

Gen nodded. "Yes. So you finally received my letter."

"What happened to her, Gen-san?"

He sighed a long sigh and took a drink of his beer. "It all happened so suddenly."

The two girls prepared themselves for an emotional story.

"It was a little more than two months ago," Gen began. "It was like any other day in our quiet village. Business was going on as usual and Nojiko had come into town to sell some of Bellemere-san's tangerines. I even had lunch with her that day when she took a break from selling. She told me that she had had an exceptionally good year for growing and that Bellemere-san would be proud.

"It was in the late afternoon when Nojiko decided to go back home. I saw her head up the road towards your house and then headed to my own. It had become so peaceful here. I had no need to worry about Nojiko's safety on her way back to your house.

"The next morning, when the mail came, I received a knock on my door, and the postman told me that he had stopped by Nojiko's house, but she wasn't there, so he had to deliver this package to me. I thought it a little strange since usually packages were left outside if someone wasn't home, but I took it anyway. I put it aside thinking that Nojiko was probably expecting it and she would come down later that day to pick it up, but she didn't come. I decided the next day to bring the package to her.

"I ended up only having time to go to your house the next evening, though, and when I arrived at your house, she wasn't home. Of course the door was unlocked as it usually is so I let myself in. What I saw shocked me to no end. The inside of your house was destroyed! Everything was either scorched or a pile of ashes. I couldn't believe it when I saw it so I ran around the house and the tangerine grove shouting Nojiko's name. There was no reply.

"I finally returned to the house and decided to open the package as it was suspicious anyway since it was delivered to me upon Nojiko's absence. Inside were only this necklace and a note." Gen paused his story telling to hand Nami the necklace and the note.

Nami shakily opened the note and read,

_Izanami,_

_ Please do not take offense at my taking your sister, Nojiko, on account of your absence. She is safe and unharmed. If you wish to see her, follow the pendant. I will be waiting for you._

_ Truly yours,_

_ Izanagi_

"Iza…nami?" Nami asked looking up at Gen.

"I wasn't sure what it meant either," Gen said shaking his head.

"Izanami and Izanagi were the goddess and god that supposedly created all living beings on earth," Robin said crossing her arms. "They were part of an ancient culture's legends. Most of the stories from that era have been lost so I'm not surprised that you don't know about it."

"Robin," Nami said.

"So what happens in this legend of Izanami and Izanagi?" Gen asked.

Robin shook her head. "Besides what I just told you, I can't say for sure. The only other thing is that they were separated for some reason even though they were in love."

"In love?" Nami asked.

"Hm, that doesn't give us much to go on," Gen said rubbing his chin.

"Unfortunately not," Robin said. "But on the issue of Nojiko's kidnapping, we should look more closely at the necklace."

"Right," Nami said. She gave the necklace over to the dark-haired woman.

Robin held it up to the light and examined it closely. "This pendant is very old," she finally said after a few minutes. "From what I can tell, it was made around the same time that the legend of Izanami and Izanagi was from."

"What does that symbol on it mean?" Gen asked Robin.

She leaned in for a closer look and furrowed her eyebrows in deep thought. Finally she let out a sigh and lowered the pendant. "I'll have to do more research on this as I'm not exactly the expert on this era. All I can tell is that there are what looks like the sun and the sea."

"The sun and the sea," Nami repeated. "What does that have to do with Izanami and Izanagi?"

Robin shrugged her shoulders. "Like I said, I'm going to have to do more research on this."

"Oh, Robin, don't worry too much about it," Nami said with a fake lighthearted laugh. "I can do the research. You should relax and-"

"Don't be ridiculous, Nami," Robin interrupted. "Researching is what I do best, and besides…" The ends of Robin's lips curled up in a small smile and the hint of a twinkle could be seen in her dark eyes. "All of this has gotten me very interested."

Nami couldn't help but smile back at her friend. Robin was usually very subtle with her emotions. Some would even say she was cold, but Nami knew that when she got that look in her eye, Robin was feeling an intense excitement. Almost like when Luffy, Zoro, or Sanji was ready to kick someone's ass.

"Robin, what's this thingy?"

Robin's twinkle disappeared as she crossed her arms. "A pendant," she replied to her rubber captain who had somehow managed to sneak up on them and grab the pendant out of Robin's hands.

"Whoa, it's so COOL!" Luffy exclaimed, his eyes bugging out.

"Luffy, give that back!" Nami ordered as she stood up to grab it from him.

"No, I wanna see it!" Luffy whined and stretched his arm up higher than Nami could reach.

"Luffy!"

"Nami!"

"Both of you cut it out," Robin said in her quiet but firm way.

The two younger ones looked at Robin and immediately stopped bickering. Luffy begrudgingly handed the pendant back to Robin.

"I'm going back to the ship and I'll be doing some research so don't disturb me," she announced emphasizing the last three words directed solely at Luffy. She got up and without another word was lost in the crowd of partying people.

"Ooooo, she's scary," Luffy trembled as he rubbed his arms.

"You know she doesn't like to be bothered when she's doing research," Nami said with a sigh. "And you, Luffy, are the king of bothering people."

Luffy snapped back to his old playful self. "Well, you got me there! Ahahaha!"

Nami rolled her eyes but couldn't help but laugh along with her captain.

"Hey, I just ate this melon that I couldn't eat last time we were here!" Luffy said completely changing the subject.

"Melon?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, the Namu-Hamu Melon!"

Nami raked her brain to remember what the hell Luffy was talking about. "Oh!" she finally said. "I can't believe you remember something like that from so long ago!"

"If it's food, I can remember anything!" Luffy said proudly.

Gen started laughing. "You got that right," he said. "You nearly cleaned us out last time you were here!"

"You have to try some, Nami! It's delicious!" Luffy grabbed her wrist before she could object and dragged her off into the crowd.

Gen smiled after the two young ones. "I guess he did keep his promise to me," he said to himself. "She never lost her smile."


	4. Chapter 4: Home

**Chapter 4**

**Home**

After the party ended, it was already four in the morning and only a few hours before sunrise. Luffy had dragged Nami all over town making her eat all sorts of foods that she had eaten when she was younger. It brought back a lot of memories. For some reason, he didn't seem to want to let her out of his sight the whole rest of the evening, but she was fine with that. She had known Luffy for almost seven years now and she was by far the one who could best deal with and counter Luffy's over-the-top personality and immaturity. Even though she'd never say it out loud, the two of them made a great team. He provided the power, determination, and loyalty, while she provided the brains, logic, and improvisation needed to be a great pirate.

Now that everyone else had gone to sleep, Nami and Luffy sat on the cliff in front of Bellemere's grave. Luffy was already asleep and had fallen back in the grass snoring peacefully. Nami, however, was wide-awake as she looked at her foster mother's grave.

"Bellemere-san," she whispered.

Gen had suggested that she didn't go to her home as it was still in shambles. The villagers had helped to clean it out, but there was no furniture, not even a sink or toilet, that was usable. Besides, the sight of her home destroyed was probably going to make her cry.

"Nojiko's gone missing," Nami continued to whisper to Bellemere. "I've been away for so long without visiting. If I were here, this wouldn't have happened to her." A tear slid down her cheek, but she didn't wipe it away. "I don't know what's going on with this whole Izanami Izanagi thing, but if the person who took Nojiko wanted me, it's my responsibility to bring her back. Then we can be a family again."

A gust of wind blew across the cliff causing the pinwheel at the base of Bellemere's grave to turn.

Nami smiled. It was like Bellemere was responding to her. She looked out over the ocean and saw the first rays of sun begin to appear over the horizon.

"Oi, Nami," Luffy mumbled.

"Hm?" Nami said in surprise. She had thought he was completely asleep.

Luffy then said something completely incoherent and then turned towards her.

Nami laughed to herself and looked back out at the sunrise. Suddenly she felt Luffy's arms surround her waist, and his head somehow made it into her lap, which made her look back down at him. She raised an eyebrow. "Luffy," she said in a warning tone thinking that he was awake, and if he was then she'd have a bonk on the head ready for him, but he was in fact still asleep. Was he dreaming or something? He did say her name. Was he dreaming about her? The thought made her blush. No way. She and Luffy were friends, crewmates, partners even. Nothing more than that. But still…

Luffy was completely asleep but yet said her name and was now using her as a human pillow.

"Luffy," Nami said again but this time with a hint of tenderness. She put a hand on his head. They'd been through a lot together. The whole crew had. She was thankful for having them as friends and honored to call them her nakama.

After a while of silence, Luffy's eyes suddenly shot open and he sat up in a flash.

"AHHHHH!" he yawned and stretched his arms way up in the air. "That was a good nap!"

Nami nearly fell backwards. "Luffy!" she yelped in surprise. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, Nami," he said with a cheeky grin.

Nami looked at him in disbelief and shook her head. Then she went back to watching the sun rise.

"Did you get any sleep?" Luffy asked.

"Nope," she said lightly. "I wasn't tired."

Luffy frowned knowing that she was lying. "Does it have something to do with that pendant?"

Nami raised an eyebrow at him. For being the most illogical, spacey person on the ship, he was definitely perceptive…sometimes. "Yeah," she said. No use lying to him.

"What were you guys talking about last night?" Luffy asked innocently, hugging his knees.

Nami shrugged. "Just what happened to Nojiko."

"What happened?"

Normally she wouldn't have wanted to talk about it, but it was Luffy, and regardless if he understood or not, she always liked talking to him. "Nojiko was kidnapped by someone calling himself Izanagi. He left a note and that pendant and said he was waiting for someone called Izanami, and…if I wanted to see Nojiko again, I would follow the pendant."

"Follow the pendant?" Luffy repeated. "Hm. That doesn't make sense."

"The sun and sea are carved on the pendant. Robin's doing some research to figure out what it means."

"Who's this Izanagi guy anyway?"

"Beats me."

"Well, if he wants to mess with your family, I won't let him escape," Luffy said making a fist. He had that excited look on his face anytime he was eager to kick some ass.

"We have to find him first," Nami stated matter-of-factly.

"If he wanted to see you so badly, then why did he make himself so difficult to find?"

Nami thought about it. "That's a good question," she finally said. "I have no idea."

"Anyway, we should start looking for Nojiko once we find the rest of our crew," Luffy said and stood up.

"Luffy, wait," Nami said.

"Hm?"

"I…" She looked down unable to meet her captain's eye. "I don't know how long this is going to take and I don't want you and the rest of the crew to lose your own dreams on account of me."

A look of seriousness flitted across Luffy's face but only for a second. It was soon replaced with a huge smile. He put a hand on Nami's head and tussled her hair. "Don't be an idiot," was all he said and then left.

"What? I'm not being an idiot, idiot!" she yelled after him.

Luffy raised a hand to wave at her but didn't turn around.

Nami sighed and got up. Even though they bickered a lot, it was actually one of the things that helped calm her down when she was worried about other, more important things. She looked over towards her house and Bellemere's treasured tangerine grove. It was now or never. She didn't really want to let the rest of the crew see her reaction when she saw her house. Now was the perfect time. She was strong. She could do this.

The orchard and the outside of the house looked completely normal. "That's strange," Nami said out loud to herself. "Didn't Gen-san say that everything was burned? If there was a fire inside, then the outside should have some burn marks or something."

As she stood in front of the door, her hand stopped short of pushing it open. Nami swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat. She clenched her fist to keep it from shaking. "Don't be a coward," she scowled at herself. With a deep breath, she swung the door completely open.

The windows were drawn shut so it was too dark to see everything at first, but as her eyes adjusted, she began to make out what used to be furniture. The villagers had swept out most of the ash, but the burn marks on the walls, floor, and ceiling were evidence enough that what Gen had said was true. What remained was the scorched countertop and a table that looked like it was about to crumble any minute.

"Nojiko…"

"Nami." It was Gen.

"Gen-san!" Nami turned around in surprise.

"I'm sorry you had to see this," Gen said.

Nami shook her head. "I had to," she replied. "But, Gen-san, inside is completely scorched and burned, but the outside doesn't have a scratch on it. How is that possible?"

Gen's brows furrowed in thought. "I noticed that myself," he said. "I don't know how that would be possible. No one noticed any smoke coming from this direction around the time of Nojiko's disappearance either. It's very strange."

"Yes," Nami agreed. She shut the door. "I've seen enough."

Gen nodded. "I know that you and your friends are going to try and find her. If there's anything I can do, please let me know."

"You've done more than enough, Gen-san," Nami said with a strong smile. "If anyone can find Nojiko, it'll be Luffy and the others. We've been through a lot together and…I trust them."

Gen's expression lightened up at the word trust. He was so happy that Nami had finally found friends, true friends, who were strong, dependable, and most of all, gained her trust. She had grown into such a strong and happy woman. Much different from the young rascal that he used to know. He put a hand on her head. "I'm glad," he said and tussled her hair.

Nami smiled confidently. "All right," she said. "Luffy went off to find the others so I'm going to head back to the ship. Please leave this to us, Gen-san!"

As much as he wanted to drop everything and help Nami find her sister, he did have an entire town to run and so he nodded in agreement.


	5. Chapter 5: Shedding Light

**Chapter 5**

**Shedding Light**

"OK!" Luffy yelled at the crew minus Nami. "We'll find Nojiko no matter what, right guys?"

"Aye," Usopp said with a salute.

Chopper nodded and followed suit.

"Of course," Sanji said. "I would never abandon Nami-san in her time of need."

"Speaking of Nami," Franky said. "Where is she?"

"Hm? Oh, she was up at her house, but she'll be here any minute now," Luffy said.

"In the mean time, maybe you should fill us in on what exactly is going on here," Zoro said.

"I can do that," Robin said before Luffy could speak. "We all know that Nojiko, Nami's older sister, is missing. Apparently someone kidnapped her, ransacked the house, and left a note and this pendant with Gen." She held up the pendant for everyone to see.

"Strange," Sanji said leaning in to inspect it more closely.

"Hey, Robin," Chopper said also looking more closely at the pendant. "Isn't that a picture of the sun and the ocean?"

Robin nodded. "After doing some reading last night, I found that the carvings on the pendant are indeed the sun and the sea. The note that was left with the pendant addressed Nami as Izanami and it was signed Izanagi. Izanami and Izanagi were characters in a legend from an ancient civilization called Japan. Although this country is now gone, some of its culture still lingers in society today. Sanji's name, for instance, is from the language that was spoken back then."

"Oi, Sanji, did you know that?" Usopp asked.

The cook shrugged. "Nope."

"Hah, Robin knows more about you than you do!" Franky said with a laugh and smacked Sanji's shoulder.

"Also, Nami's name comes from that same civilization," Robin continued.

Sanji perked up at this. "Nami-swaaaan!" he swooned. "Our destinies had always been decided since ancient times! Our past is interconnected and so therefore is our future together!"

Zoro bonked Sanji's head with the butt of one of his swords. "Shut up."

"Oh, you want to fight, Zoro?" Sanji said angrily.

"If you don't be quiet I will."

"Why you!"

Robin used her devil fruit hands to separate the two. "As I was saying," she said calmly, continuing as if nothing had happened. "Izanagi and Izanami were brother and sister gods that were charged with the creation of the world. Izanagi was god of the sun and Izanami was the goddess of the sea. Although they were siblings, they had fallen in love with each other and were determined to have a family."

"Brother and sister?!" Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper all said simultaneously. "Ew!"

Ignoring her crewmates again, Robin continued. "The two abandoned their duties and tried to have a child, but when it was born, it had no bones, a leech child. They abandoned the child and he became the ruler of the underworld. All demons are said to have originated from him. Ashamed of the curse that they had brought upon the deities, they had no choice but to return to the heavens and apologize. As punishment, the other gods decided that they were to fulfill their duties and then be separated forever. So Izanagi, the sun god was imprisoned in the sky while Izanami was imprisoned on the earth. Life began as a result as we need both the sun in the sky and water on the earth to have life." Robin put the pendant back in her pocket.

"Yohoho! Interesting," Brook mused as he rubbed his boney chin with his boney fingers. "I believe I once heard a song about that tale."

"Is that so?" Robin asked. "Of all the legends and stories from ancient times, this one is the most famous, but it is still quite obscure."

"So, this guy who calls himself Izanagi is probably some delusional psycho that thinks that that legend is true," Usopp said.

Robin nodded. "That would be the most logical thing. The only other option is that the legend is in fact true somehow."

"Like that could possibly be true," Zoro said with a yawn. "They're called legends for a reason."

"It better not be true!" Sanji said with a growl. "Who does this Izanagi think he is anyway?"

"Hey, guys!" Nami greeted as she boarded the Thousand Sunny. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Nami!"

"Nami-swaaan!"

"Nami," Robin said. "I was just telling the others about what I had learned from my research last night."

"Really?" Nami said her face lighting up.

"But first, did you find anything at your house?"

Nami nodded. "Maybe. Gen-san said that all the furniture inside the house was destroyed, burned up into ashes or scorched beyond repair, and that was all true, but the outside of the house didn't have any burn or smoke marks anywhere. Gen-san also said that none of the villagers noticed smoke coming from my house around the time Nojiko was taken."

"Hm," Robin said. "Very interesting."

"Huh?" Luffy asked. "You know something, Robin?"

"Perhaps. The interesting burn patterns might have something to do with fact that Izanagi is the god of the sun," Robin said.

"Hey, Robin," Chopper said tapping her on the leg.

"Yes, Chopper?"

"Can I see that necklace again?"

"Of course." She took it out of her pocket and handed it to the pint-sized reindeer.

Chopper held it extremely closely to his face, narrowing his eyes.

"Oi, Chopper. Do you see something?" Luffy asked squatting down beside him and consequently also shoving his face close to the pendant.

Startled by the close proximity, Chopper jumped back and nearly dropped the pendant. "Luffy!"

"Luffy! Give him some space!" Nami said pinching his cheek and pulling him back up to a standing position.

"I think I can see something in the sea!" Chopper said pointing to the pendant.

"What is it?" Brook asked.

"It looks like a map of an island!"

"What? Let me see that!" Nami said and grabbed it from Chopper. She squinted her eyes to the point where they were almost shut. "I don't see anything."

"Hey, let me see!" Luffy said and shoved his face next to Nami's so that he could get a good look. "Oi, Chopper, are you sure? I don't see anything either."

"Hold on a moment," Robin said as she pulled out a magnifying glass. She calmly took the pendant back and looked through the glass. After a moment of silence she gasped. "Oh, I see it, Chopper!"

"Really?" Nami and Luffy said together.

Robin nodded. "I can't believe the detail! It's so tiny!"

Luffy stretched his neck out so that he could look through the magnifying glass as well. "Oh, I see it too! Chopper! You could see that without the magnifying glass?"

Chopper nodded. "Maybe being small lets me notice small things better."

"AMAZING!" Luffy shouted.

"If it's a map then that's where we have to go, right, Robin?" Nami said.

"That's logical," she replied. "I guess that's what the note meant by follow the pendant."

"But seriously, if he wanted Nami to follow that map on the pendant to get to him, then why did he make it so damn small?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, if Chopper weren't here, then we might've never seen it at all," Franky said.

"This all seems fishy to me," Usopp added scrunching up his long nose.

"It is strange," Nami said. "Luffy asked earlier that if this Izanagi wanted to see me so badly, why is he making it so difficult for us to find him?"

"I said that?" Luffy asked in surprise.

"You don't remember anything, do you?" Nami sighed in exasperation.

"So how do we get to this mysterious island?" Brook practically sang.

"Well, first thing's first," Nami said, "I'm going to have to draw a bigger version of the map. Then we'll all have to look through our maps in the library and see if we can find it."

"What? Study?" Zoro asked.

"Yes, Zoro," Nami said with a smirk. "For once in your life you'll have to open a book and read."

Zoro shot Nami a scowl.

"We'll all help you, Nami-swan! Even this lunk-head swordsman! Or else," he said giving Zoro the evil eye.

"And you're going to make me?"

"I will if I need to."

"Is that a challenge?"

"And what if it is?!"

Nami bonked both men on the head with her fists. "Quit arguing and start looking!" she shouted.

"Yohoho, she's scary," Brook said.

"Yeah, we sh-should probably start looking," Usopp agreed.

A few minutes later, Nami came out of her room with a larger version of the map that was carved on the pendant. "Here's what we're looking for! Since log poses don't work out here, we're going to have to do this the old fashioned way!"

"Right!" Chopper said with a nod.

"I'll find that island in no time, Nami-san," Sanji said with serious determination.

Soon the Straw Hat Pirates were sprawled out across the deck with piles of books and maps surrounding each of them. The sight of all her crewmates studying up made Nami laugh to herself. She'd never thought she'd see the day. The only ones who liked books and reading were herself, Robin, and Chopper. She didn't even know if Luffy knew how to read until now. Luckily he did.

"Oi, Nami," Luffy said for what seemed like the millionth time since they started the search.

"What, Luffy?" Nami said obviously annoyed.

Luffy either didn't notice the tone or ignored it as he scooted up to her with a book in his hand. "Is it this island?" he asked pointing to a picture of a map.

"Luffy, I gave you a copy of the map!" Nami said shutting a book with frustration. "Can't you just look for yourself?"

"They all look the same to me," Luffy shrugged.

"Me too," Zoro said closing another book. "Even if I did see it, I probably wouldn't notice that it was the right island."

Nami frowned. The two of them were hopeless when it had to do with anything related to maps or directions.

"Nami," Usopp said.

"What?!"

"Hey, calm down, I'm not like them," Usopp retorted. "I think I might've found it!"

"Really?" Nami immediately jumped up and rushed over to her long-nosed crewmate knocking Luffy over in the process.

"Oi! Nami!" he complained, but she ignored him.

"Usopp, you're a genius! That's it!" Nami said glowing.

"Haha!" Usopp said with a cheeky smile. "The great Usopp will never fail once a task is given to him! AHAHAHA!"

"Well, I guess I just wasted all that time for nothing," Zoro said.

"It wasn't a waste, Zoro! With all of us looking, it didn't take that long!" Chopper said happily. "If it had just been one person we definitely wouldn't have found it so quickly."

"That's right, Chopper," Nami said smiling down at the cute little reindeer.

"Ah, good!" Luffy exclaimed as he jumped up. "That means we can set sail again!"

"Aye!" everyone shouted in response.

"Wait! I'm just going to tell Gen-san that we're leaving," Nami said as she ran off the ship. "I'll be back in a minute!"

"Let's make preparations while she's gone," Robin said.

"Ok!"

The Straw Hat Pirates were eager to get back to what they did best, which was definitely not reading books and studying. Once Nami was back, the crew set sail toward the mysterious unknown island.


	6. Chapter 6: The Long and Frustrating

**Chapter 6**

**The Long and Frustrating Voyage North**

Unfortunately for the Straw Hat Pirates, the little unknown island was all the way in the North Blue. In fact, it was at the most northern tip of the North Blue making the voyage rather long. Much longer than what Nami was hoping for. Even with her incredible navigation skills and Franky's powered up additions to the ship, it was still taking a while.

It had been more than a week since they had left the coast of Cocoyashi, and according to the map, the island was still a ways away from their current position. Not only that, they also had multiple run-ins with the Marines and bounty hunters that wanted their heads for the combined bounty of almost a billion berries. It seemed that even if Luffy was the King of the Pirates, the lure of that amount of money was enough reason for quite a few idiots to attack them. Needless to say, the reoccurring confrontations made progress even slower than usual.

"Geez, will these people ever learn?" Sanji said as he smoked his cigarette. They had just gotten away from band of bounty hunters and were headed slightly off course to seek shelter.

"Probably not," Franky replied matter-of-factly. "With all the attention we've been getting thanks to our captain, anyone would be able to recognize us from miles away."

"It's like we have a big target on our sail," Usopp said.

"At least it's not like the Grand Line," Robin said turning a page in her book that she was reading. "Most of these people are weak."

"Very true, Robin-chan," Sanji said. "But it's pretty annoying."

"I'll say," Brook said. "I've not had a moment's peace since we've set sail from the quaint village of Cocoyashi, and I've had so many songs that have slipped my mind because I haven't had the chance to write them down. Oh, woe is me!"

"Hey, has anyone seen Nami?" Chopper asked walking down the stairs to the main deck.

"Nope," Franky replied.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen her all day," Sanji said. "Nami-swaaan? Where are you?"

"Maybe she wanted some time alone," Usopp said. "I mean, she's probably more frustrated than anyone else with our slow progress."

"That's true," Brook said. "Her poor sister is awaiting her rescue, and here we are still floundering about in the sea! Oh, the humanity!"

"And where's Luffy? It's not like him to disappear for this long," Chopper said.

"He's probably eating or napping somewhere," Franky said with a yawn. "With all these delays, I can't say I blame him."

"What do you mean? How could anyone sleep with all this going on?" Chopper asked. "We just escaped a bunch of pyromaniacs! There were explosions everywhere!"

"Well, this lazy-ass swordsman can," Sanji said with a frown. "Sleeping like that while Nami-swan and Robin-chwan are in danger."

Sure enough, Zoro was snoring away at his usual spot on the grassy deck. It didn't matter that they were being chased. Once Zoro heard it was just a group of bounty hunters, he immediately went back to his nap saying that they didn't need him to get rid of them, which was true.

Meanwhile, Nami had been in her and Robin's room poring over the maps again and again to make absolute sure that they were sailing in the quickest route possible to the island. All the setbacks were getting on her nerves, and she was growing impatient. Not only were the attacks on the ship time consuming, she also had to recalculate everything after each time they got off course.

She slammed her hands on the table in frustration. "This is taking too long!" she said out loud. "Nojiko might be dead by now, and we're just wallowing around in this stupid excuse for a sea!" She began pacing the room. "If we have no more attacks then we should be there by tomorrow, but at this rate, we can probably expect three or more attacks making our progress slower so we'd be there by the end of the week, but…" She grabbed her hair. "I don't have time for this!"

"Nami?" Luffy's voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

For a second, Nami stared blankly at her captain with bunches of her hair still in her hands, but only for a second. "AHH!" she screamed in surprise. She then walked over to him and bonked him on the head. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Ow, ow, ow! Nami, that hurt!" Luffy said rubbing his head.

"Good!" Nami shouted and turned back to the map table in a huff.

"Why are you so upset?" Luffy asked innocently.

"Why do you think?" Nami scowled much like Zoro did when he was pissed. Maybe she was spending a little too much time around the swordsman.

"Are you hungry?" Luffy suggested completely missing the point.

"NO!" Nami screamed.

"Oh, do you need to take a nap?"

"NO! LUFFY!" Nami rubbed her temples and tried to calm herself down. "It's…nothing," she finally said. She didn't want to tell her captain why she was really frustrated. The fact that she was sailing around with the King of the Pirates would of course slow down any progress they were making. She knew that from the beginning but she didn't know it would be this bad. And it wasn't Luffy's fault either so she couldn't be mad at him.

"Hm? Nothing?" Luffy asked completely oblivious.

"Yeah," Nami said and started aimlessly poking around her maps so as not to look Luffy in the eye.

A moment of silence was shared between them with Nami poking her maps and Luffy staring somewhat blankly at his navigator. Finally after an awkward minute or so, Nami pretended like she heard something.

"Oh, you hear that? I should go see if we've escaped those stupid bounty hunters! Ahahaha…" she said nervously.

Luffy looked questioningly at her.

Nami opened the door. "You coming or what?"

"Sure!"

The two came out on deck.

"Oh, there you guys are," Chopper said with a laugh.

"We've outrun those damn idiot bounty hunters," Franky said.

"Good," Nami said with a nod. As frustrated as she was, she couldn't let her crewmates know. They were all doing this for her and she was grateful to them. "We're going to set a new course," she announced. She began barking orders to the crew, including Luffy, sounding very much like the captain. Even though Luffy was the real captain, everyone listened more to Nami when it came to sailing. Plus, Luffy didn't mind being bossed around by Nami anyway.

Three days later, after a few more run-ins with the Marines and bounty hunters, the Straw Hats were nearing the island. Since they were so far north, they had already begun to run into ice, which was slowing their progress at first, but Franky and Usopp whipped up a cutting-and-melting-ice add-on to the ship making the rest of their journey a bit less frustrating. Soon the Thousand Sunny was anchored at a small island that looked more like a humongous iceberg than an island.

"Oi, N-N-Nami, are you s-s-sure this is the right-t-t island?" Usopp asked through chattering teeth. Even though he was wrapped up in layers upon layers of clothing, the bitter cold still cut through him like a knife.

"Mm," Nami said nodding her head. "It has to be. I've never navigated us to the wrong island before."

"This is the right one," Robin said. "According to the map, this island is the closest one to the North Pole."

"North Pole?" Franky said. "Well, that explains why it's so damn cold."

"If it's s-s-so damn cold, th-then why are you s-s-still only in that d-d-disgusting speedo?!" Ussop yelled.

"Hey, I like my outfit," Franky said with a prideful sniff. "And I'm not a weakling like you."

"I'm not w-w-weak! It's just s-s-so c-c-cold!" Ussop frowned as he grabbed another blanket to wrap around himself.

"Quit being a baby," Zoro said crossing his arms. He was wearing only a jacket over his normal clothes but seemed to be fine.

Usopp stared incredulously at the cyborg and the legendary swordsman, who were both dressed so terribly inappropriately for the weather they were experiencing.

"All right," Luffy said punching the air. "Let's go find this Izanagi bastard and get Nojiko back!"

"Yes," Nami agreed. "We have to hurry or-"

"Wait a minute!" Chopper interrupted. "We can't just go exploring out there unprepared!"

"Chopper's right," Robin said. "It doesn't look like there are any inhabitants, and we don't know if there is dangerous wildlife."

"If we're not careful, we could freeze to death!" Chopper added. "If it's this cold during the day there's no way we can survive the night out there!"

"Then what can we do?" Sanji asked. "It seems like we can only explore a very limited area. We'd have to be able to make it back to the ship before sundown."

"With this weather condition, I would say that it would probably take more than a half day's walk to get to the center of the island," Robin said. "Which means that even if we explored a section of the island one day at a time around the entire circumference, we still wouldn't be able to see what's in the center."

"And why do I get the feeling that where we need to go is the center of the island?" Franky said with a sigh.

"Well, we don't know that for sure," Robin said.

"I do not fear cold," Brook said in his best thespian voice. "I have no flesh so I am immune to weather complications! I could go further into the island and scout ahead!"

"But what if something happens to you?" Chopper said worriedly. "If you went by yourself, you could be attacked and none of us would be able to help you!"

"Oh, it is true that my bones are not as strong as they used to be," Brook said dejectedly. "Oh, the humanity!"

"Everyone!" Nami nearly shouted. The others all fell silent and looked at their redheaded navigator. "I…I understand that it's dangerous," she began. "But I have to go, no matter what! If Nojiko is here, then she doesn't have a lot of time, and we've already spent so much time getting here! I have to go, but please don't feel obligated to come with me. If one of you got hurt or died, I would never forgive myself!" She was on the brink of tears but managed to hold them back.

"Nami?" Luffy said with a frown. "After all we've been through together, you still don't trust us?"

"What?" Nami said in surprise.

"We're all strong," Luffy said. "There's no way we would die here."

"Luffy's right," Zoro said. "If the weather's all there is to worry about, this should be a piece of cake."

"Speak for yourself," Usopp interjected quickly.

"Maybe if normal people were here, they wouldn't be able to make it to the center of the island, but we're not normal," Sanji said with grin.

"Speak for yourself!" Usopp interjected again. It was true that among the crew, the only normal human beings were Usopp and Nami.

"You guys…" Nami said.

"I don't doubt our ability to survive," Chopper said, "I just want us to prepare for the trip."

"Let's pack appropriately," Robin said. "I think the best way to go about exploring the island is if we split up into three groups. That way we'd be able to cover more ground in less time, but still be safe."

"Right," Luffy said. "Zoro, Chopper, Usopp, you head to the left. Sanji, Robin, Brook, you head to the right. Franky you stay here with the ship. Nami and I will head for the center."

"W-wait, there's only t-t-two in your group," Usopp said stating the obvious.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to Nami," Luffy said with a laugh. "After all, I am the Pirate King! Hahaha!"

"All right, then," Zoro said with one of his smiles that indicated that he was going to enjoy a challenge. "We should get going."

"Remember you guys have to get back here by sundown or you might freeze," Franky warned.

"Aye!" everyone said in unison.

"Everyone, please be careful!" Nami said.

"Don't worry about me, Nami-swan!" Sanji said. "I will find and rescue your beloved sister!"

"Plus, I'm a reindeer so I'm used to cold weather," Chopper said with a laugh, "and Brook isn't afraid of the cold either so both of our groups are good to go!"

"You're the one who needs to be the most careful," Robin said to Nami.

"Yeah, make sure Luffy doesn't do something stupid like that," Zoro said pointing at their captain who was already stuck neck-deep in the snow.

"Oi! Nami! Get me out! It's cold!" Luffy shouted.

Nami sighed. "Yeah, you guys are right. My group is the one that I should be most worried about."

A few minutes later, everyone had their snowshoes or skis on and they went their separate ways.


	7. Chapter 7: Discovery

**Chapter 7**

**Discovery**

"Nami!" Luffy called out.

The wind and snow flurries were picking up, so it was beginning to get hard to see and hear.

"Luffy!" Nami yelled in response. "What's wrong?"

"I found something!" he called again.

Nami squinted through the falling snow and saw her captain crouched over something on the ground. "What is it?" she asked in alarm as she rushed over to him as fast as she could. She crouched next to him trying to see what he had found.

"Isn't it so cool?" Luffy said with a broad smile. He was poking at what looked like an insect, but it had a clear body so they could see right through it.

"A…bug?" Nami asked in disbelief.

"OW!" Luffy yelped after receiving a bonk on the head from his partner. "What was that for?"

"We don't have time to be fooling around!" Nami yelled. "Not every single little thing that moves is important to what we're doing here!"

Luffy just smiled and patted her head making her turn red in the face with more anger. He had stopped them at least twenty times now in their trek toward the center of the island, and each time was for something completely unrelated to what they were supposedly trying to accomplish, but since there was really nothing else besides snow and ice as far as the eye could see, every little thing that moved was a huge distraction for Luffy.

"Geez," Nami said standing up again. She pulled out the map. "Ok, we're a few miles in." She traced their path with a mittened hand. "That's hopefully a little more than half way to the center, but we haven't seen anything!"

"That's not true," Luffy said standing as well. "We found this little guy!" He held up the insect.

Nami punched him in the head again and went back to the map. "There has to be more instructions than just getting us to the island. I mean, how are we supposed to find anything in this damn blizzard?" She pulled out the pendant that Robin had given back to her to hold on to.

"Ow, ow, ow," Luffy whined in the background rubbing his head.

Nami ignored him and studied the pendant again. If there was that tiny etching of the island hidden in the sea, then maybe something was also hidden in the sun. Although Chopper and Robin had both looked it over they hadn't found anything, but Nami had a feeling that something was there regardless. She took out her magnifying glass and peered down at the small pendant.

"What're you looking at, Nami?" Luffy asked also leaning in to see. "Another cool bug?"

"There has to be more than just the island map," Nami said ignoring Luffy's question. "We could be stuck here looking for weeks without finding anything. It just doesn't make sense."

"Oh. Not a bug."

"There's no way someone could survive here for a month without some sort of shelter, but I don't see anything except flat ice," Nami continued talking more to herself than to distracted her captain. "How could Nojiko be here?"

"Maybe they're underground," Luffy said putting his hands behind his head now bored again.

"Really? Under the ice?" Nami said sarcastically, but after a moment she raised an eyebrow. "Wait, Luffy, I think you might be right!"

"So you think they're cool too, huh?" Luffy said shoving the insect into Nami's face with glee.

Nami resisted the urge to give Luffy another bump on his head and instead, shoved his hand away. "No, about Nojiko being underground. Stop getting distracted, Luffy!"

"Hehehe."

"Because although this looks like an iceberg, it's really an island. All the books and maps we've found said it was. Plus that's the only logical way anyone would survive here since it's so flat."

The snow began to lighten up, and miraculously the sun started to shine through the clouds.

"Ohoho!" Luffy said looking up in the sky. "The sun came out!"

"Don't look directly at the sun, idiot!" Nami shouted. She put away the pendant and the map. "Ok, so there has to be an entrance somewhere. Maybe we've been looking all in the wrong places. Maybe the entrance is somewhere along the coast."

"Huh? Well, then Zoro, Sanji and the others should be able to find it," Luffy said confidently.

"But we can't be sure there is an entrance. I mean, we're just speculating here," Nami said doubtfully.

"Well, if there's no entrance, we can just make one!" Luffy said making a fist.

"Uh, Luffy?"

"Stand back, Nami!"

"Don't tell me your going to punch through the-"

"GUM GUM PISTOL!" Luffy yelled before Nami could stop him.

As his fist crashed into the ground, the layers and layers of snow poofed out around and above them.

"AHHHH!" Nami screamed as she was blown back by the impact.

"GUM GUM GATLING GUN!"

This time Nami had time to run a little ways away from her rampaging captain. "Geez, you could've given me more time to get away!" Nami yelled.

The snow was still settling when Luffy hit the ground below the ice. "All right!" he yelled happily. "I broke through the ice!"

Nami dusted herself off and cautiously approached Luffy who was at the bottom of a huge pit. He had punched through at least half a mile of snow and ice to get to the ground.

"Luffy!" she called from above.

"Oi, Nami!" Luffy called back waving his arms. "Stay up there for a bit longer, ok?"

"O-ok," Nami said immediately stepping back to take cover.

"GUM GUM HAMMER!" Luffy shouted as he unleashed a powerful downward kick. Even the frozen ground didn't stand a chance against his attacks.

A moment later after the dust had settled, Nami peered over the edge of the crater. "Luffy!" she called.

No response.

Now she was worried. What if he had gone too deep and the walls of the crater collapsed in on him? It was still too cloudy to see.

"Nami," Luffy's voice echoed up to her.

"Luffy?" She began to make out the image of her captain as he climbed out of the hole by slingshotting himself up the side. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," Luffy said with a cheeky grin. "There's a river down there."

"A river?"

He nodded. "And it's a lot warmer too."

So Luffy had been right to think that inhabitants of this island, if any, all lived underground. Nami wondered why she hadn't thought of it first.

"Let's go!" Luffy said and without warning he wrapped his rubber arm around Nami's waist and jumped down the crater.

"AHHHH!" Nami screamed. Even though he had done this to her a number of times before, she still hadn't gotten used to it. In fact, she'd probably never be used to it.

A minute later, they had reached the underground river. "Yay! We're here!" Luffy announced raising his arms in victory.

Nami didn't respond immediately as she was still recovering from the long jump down by trying to keep herself from throwing up.

"Oi, Nami, are you ok?" Luffy asked poking her in the forehead.

After several deep breaths, Nami finally opened her eyes and smacked his finger away. "I'm fine," she said sarcastically. "Just a mile long drop. No harm done."

"Great! Then what are we waiting for?" Luffy said happily as he marched off.

"Wait, Luffy! Where do you think you're going?"

"Dunno."

Nami smacked her own forehead out of frustration. "Then don't just march off in any direction you feel like." She pulled out the map and looked up through the hole in the cave ceiling that Luffy had created. She was lucky the blizzard had stopped so she could estimate where they were from the sun. "Ok, we were headed in this direction when we were up there," she said pointing one way. "But since it's already past midday, we should probably head back. The river seems to be flowing in towards the center, so we just need to follow it upstream. There'll probably be an opening of some kind once we reach the coast."

"Sounds good," Luffy said.

"If we can find our way out from underground, then tomorrow we'll be able to make it even further into the island since we won't have to deal with the blizzard," Nami said, a small smile crossing her face.

Luffy's own smile broadened at the sight of hers. "That's more like it!" he said slapping her on the back. "See? I'll always be the one to make you smile! You're too serious."

Nami raised an eyebrow and pushed Luffy's face out of her way. "Only because you're never serious at all."

Luffy laughed heartily. "Let's get going. We'll see what the others found."

"Mm," Nami said nodding her head. The two began their journey back to the ship in a much more comfortable climate.

It was already after sundown by the time they got back. The river that they had followed did eventually lead them out to the coast, but Luffy had to smash through some rock before the hole was big enough for them to exit without having to swim against the icy current of the river. When they finally did get outside, the Thousand Sunny was within sight. Luck seemed to be on their side.

"NAMI-SWAAAN!" Sanji shouted for joy at the sight of their return. "Are you all right? You're not hurt, are you? I was so worried because it's already after sundown! I wanted to go after you to save you!"

"Sanji-kun, I'm fine," Nami said with a nervous laugh. "Luffy and I found an underground river to follow back to the coast, so it was warmer than up on the surface."

"Underground river?" Chopper asked. "We didn't see anything like that."

"But then again, we weren't exactly digging or anything," Usopp said. "All we did was follow the coast but we didn't see any caves."

"There was a strange water pattern at that one place, though," Chopper said putting a hoof under his chin. "Maybe that was also the beginnings of another underground river."

"We saw something similar as well," Robin said. "Looks like there are multiple rivers flowing in towards the center of the island."

"But isn't that strange?" Franky asked. "Don't rivers usually flow out to sea?"

"That's right," Brook said. "I dare say it is quite the mystery, is it not? Yohoho!"

"If there are rivers flowing into the island then where do they empty?" Franky continued. "It's impossible to think that these rivers can just keep building up in the center of the island."

"You're right, Franky," Chopper said. "The island would explode or something!"

"I know that you weren't able to see anything on the sun before," Nami said bringing the pendant back out. "But I just can't help but feel that there's something there that has to do with the rivers."

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

"I mean, look at the pattern of the sun," Nami said pointing to it. "Each of the rays might be a river leading to the center of the island."

"Maybe," Franky said. "If that's the case, then I was right when I said that what we're looking for is in the center of the island."

"Wow! You knew all along?" Chopper asked in amazement.

"Heh, no. Things just always turn out that way."

"How many rays are there, Nami?" Robin asked.

"Seven."

"Hm," Robin said putting a hand under her chin. "How far was the strange water pattern from here, Chopper?"

"Maybe six miles."

"Ours was a little more, maybe six and half," Sanji said.

"The one we came out of was only about a quarter mile away from here," Nami said pointing in the same direction that Robin, Sanji, and Brook's group had gone in.

"It looks like the rivers are all equidistant from each other," Robin said after a quick calculation in her head. "So if there really are seven rivers like the seven rays on this sun, then the island should be about 44 miles in circumference, meaning the center is only 7 miles away."

Chopper, Usopp, and Luffy all stared at Robin in admiration. "AMAZING!"

"That's my Robin-chwan for you!" Sanji swooned.

"That is only if Nami's theory is correct about the pendant," Robin said after nodding to her adoring fans.

"7 miles isn't that far," Zoro said. "Tomorrow we'd definitely be able to make it there and back."

"Well, only if we go underground," Nami said.

"Yeah, we were making really slow progress today when we tried to get to the center," Luffy said.

"That's because you kept getting distracted!" Nami shouted in anger.

"SCARY!" Luffy yelped and hid behind Chopper.

"In any case, I think there's a good chance that my theory is right," Nami said after calming down.

"Well, we should all eat something, and then you guys need to rest," Franky said. "I can keep watch since I didn't have much to do today besides fix up some things."

"Ok, then I'll go cook dinner," Sanji said walking off to the kitchen.

"FOOD!" Luffy yelled out of happiness. "Sanji, make sure to make lots of meat!"

"Got it," Sanji replied without turning. Luffy always asked him to make lots of meat dishes every single meal, so Sanji was planning on it anyway.

"ALL RIGHT!" Luffy said and punched the air.

"Good, I'm starving," Zoro said and sat down to take a nap before the meal.

"Me too," Chopper said. "I can't wait for dinner!"

"Me three!" Usopp agreed and the two of them began to dance happily around the deck singing about food.

Brook couldn't help but join in as he whipped out his fiddle, and Luffy also began doing the food dance.

With all the men of the ship doing their daily before-meal routines, Robin and Nami settled down at their table.

"I hope you're instinct is right, Nami," Robin said. "Seven miles isn't too far, but if something happens and we're unable to get back to the ship in time, it could be dangerous."

"I know," Nami said with a nod. "I don't want to put people in danger, but I just can't shake this feeling."

"If you feel that strongly about it, then I trust you," Robin said with a smile. "You're instincts are quite dependable. I've never met anyone with your ability to navigate, draw maps or predict weather patterns like you can. You have a very special gift."

That made Nami feel much better. She looked up to Robin a hell of a lot, and any time Robin said something, Nami knew that it was the truth.


	8. Chapter 8: The Tunnel

**Chapter 8**

**The Tunnel**

At the crack of dawn, the Straw Hats were ready to start their journey to the center of the island. If Nami's theory was correct, then there was no need to explore the rest of the coast, and as far as Nami could tell, there was nothing of interest on the surface.

"What about the cool bugs?" Luffy asked.

"Bugs?" Chopper asked completely confused.

Nami squeezed the map she had just rolled shut, crinkling the paper. "Luffy, will you drop that already?!" she shouted.

"Hey, everyone!" Usopp shouted from his post in the crow's nest.

"What's up, Usopp?" Luffy shouted back.

The long-nosed sharpshooter was looking through his binoculars out at the ocean. "You're not gonna believe this!"

The others all looked in the direction Usopp was pointing. At first they saw nothing, but soon small, dark dots began to appear on the frozen horizon.

"Geez. Someone followed us all the way here?" Sanji said.

"Looks like it," Franky said heading off toward the defense system room. "Oi, Usopp! How many are there?"

"I don't know!" Usopp hollered back. "They just keep coming. So far I'd say there are about fifteen or twenty ships!"

"Twenty ships? All the way up here?" Franky wondered aloud.

"It's probably the Marines," Sanji said. "What kind of bounty hunter has twenty ships under his command?"

The sun had already risen above the horizon, and Nami was getting worried. If they needed to get back to the ship by sundown, they only had a very limited amount time to get to the center of the island, see if they could find Nojiko, and then get back. The more time they waited to get started, the less time they'd have to find her sister.

Luffy seemed to notice her anxiety. "Ok, guys, listen up!"

The rest of the crew turned their attention away from the oncoming ships to listen to their captain.

"If it's just the Marines then all of us don't need to stay here. We've got to get to the center of the island as soon as possible."

"Right," Zoro said.

"It's a whole fleet of Marines!" Usopp yelled as he made his way down from the nest. "There are at least fifty ships!"

"Luffy," Zoro said upon hearing the new information. "You, Robin, Chopper, Brook, and Nami go find Nojiko. The rest of us can handle these idiots."

"Are you sure?" Nami asked worriedly. "I know they're just the Marines, but this is a huge fleet."

"No problem," Franky said coming back out of the defense room. "I designed this ship to hold its own against a fleet of a hundred! So what's fifty ships?"

"We'll be fine, Nami-san," Sanji said with determination. "Please leave everything to me!"

"Hey, guys! We'd better hurry!" Usopp interrupted. "They've got some sort of device that's letting them plow through the ice too!"

"Ok, let's go!" Luffy said with a nod.

"See you at sundown," Franky said with a salute.

The exploration group nodded and quickly left the ship.

"These guys must be real idiots to think they can corner us up here," Zoro said crossing his arms.

"They probably thought we'd be stuck in the ice and are trying to ambush us," Franky said with a gleeful smile. "Just who do they think they're dealing with?"

"We've got other business we need to take care of," Sanji growled. "We should finish them quickly."

"Well, in that case, you guys just go ahead," Usopp said with a nervous laugh. "I'll back you up from here!"

The other three looked over at their comrade and saw that he was half inside the main cabin with his knees practically knocking together.

"What? You're still afraid of these guys?" Zoro mocked.

"N-no!" Usopp insisted. "But, you didn't see their sails!"

"What about them?" Zoro asked.

"They're the infamous fleet number seven!" Usopp said his voice jumping an octave or two.

"Seven?" Sanji said. "What about it?"

"WHAT?! You've never heard of fleet number seven?" Usopp shouted his jaw dropping to the ground.

"I have," Franky said. "What the hell are they doing outside the Grand Line?"

"They're probably here just to hunt us down," Usopp said nervously. "We were lucky enough to outrun them in the Grand Line, but here we're completely stuck, and Nami's not here to help us out-navigate them!"

"Oh, please," Sanji said as he lit a cigarette. "We've dealt with things much worse than any damn Marine Fleet."

"They say that the man heading up the seventh fleet has a devil fruit power," Franky said putting a hand under his chin. "Although, according to rumors, he's never actually been seen using it, because his fleet has always taken care of things without him having to fight."

"Even in the Grand Line?" Sanji asked.

"Then this'll be at least a little entertaining," Zoro said with a menacing smile.

Luffy, Nami, Robin, Chopper, and Brook made it to the entrance of the cave that Luffy had made the day before. A bad blizzard was beginning to pick up, so they were grateful for the shelter.

"Oh, I hope Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and Franky are ok," Chopper said worriedly. "This storm looks worse than yesterday's."

"Maybe it'll be a good thing," Robin offered. "This also means the Marines will have a harder time getting closer. It'll at least buy them more time to prepare the ship."

"Really?" asked the small reindeer hopefully.

Robin nodded and gave him an encouraging smile.

"Besides, those guys can handle themselves," Luffy said confidently. "I mean, come on, we're the Straw Hat Pirates!"

"I guess you're right!" Chopper said with a laugh.

"In any case, we should hurry," Nami said interrupting.

"I would just like to say that this cave reminds me of a song that my comrades and I once sang oh, so very long ago!" Brook sang.

"Really? Let's hear it!" Luffy said always up for a good song.

"Of course!" Brook whipped out his guitar from seemingly nowhere and began to sing.

At first Nami wanted to retort and tell them to shut it but then she looked at her companions and realized that the music was helping to make the cave less gloomy. Every one of them was smiling as they listened to Brook's performance, seeming to forget the cold and worry that they had just had a second ago. Eventually, Nami also joined in on the music making. It was a pretty uneventful journey to the center of the island so Brook's music livened it up. Having fun and being carefree while walking towards the unknown was the epitome of being a pirate.

A while later, the group came to a halt. In front of them was what looked like the gate of a fortress.

"I knew there'd be people underground!" Luffy said happily.

"Looks like the walls of a city," Robin observed.

"A whole city?" Chopper said in amazement.

"Yohoho! I've never heard of an underground city up here before!" Brook said. "I shall be the first to write a song about it!"

"But the gate's closed," Nami said.

"Then let's knock," Luffy said as if it were the most logical thing in the world. He walked up to the gate and pounded his fist on the cold metal. "HELLOOOOO?!" he shouted. His voiced echoed through the cave, even causing a few loose rocks to fall from the walls and ceiling.

"Huh, looks like no one's home," Luffy said. "Well, if they're not going to let us in, I'll just break it down!"

"That might not be the best idea," Robin warned just as Luffy was winding up for a punch.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Think about it," Robin said patiently. "We're under at least a mile or so of rock, ice, and snow. Although the island may seem flat, we should assume that the center is more elevated than the coasts."

"So?" Luffy said completely missing the point.

"So, we shouldn't be too rash about pummeling our way through this gate," Nami said impatiently. She didn't know how Robin managed to keep her cool when dealing with Luffy. That was definitely one thing that Nami really admired about her.

"I get it," Chopper said. "The wall is probably made to hold up the weight of the rock and ice on it. If we punch out the gate, the whole thing might collapse on us."

"That's right, Chopper," Robin said with a smile.

"Aw, that's boring!" Luffy pouted. "Then how are we supposed to get in?"

"Hm." Robin said deep in thought. "I'll try opening the gate." She took a deep breath and proceeded to project her devil fruit arms through the gate. Suddenly she stopped, wincing in pain.

"What's wrong, Robin?" Nami asked worriedly.

"It seems I've hit some sort of barrier," Robin said with a puzzled look on her face. "For some reason I can't get past it."

"That's weird," Luffy said.

"Then what do we do?" Chopper asked.

"Hm!" Brook said trying to think. "Well the river seems able to get in."

Nami's eyes brightened. "That's it, Brook!"

"What's it, my dear?" Brook asked.

"If I can just swim under the wall, then I can open the gate for you guys."

"What?" Luffy, Robin, and Brook said in unison.

"Are you crazy?!" Chopper said waving his arms. "It's still freezing here! You could get hypothermia!"

"Don't worry," Nami said taking off her bag that held the map, the pendant, and her weapon that Usopp had made her: the Clima-Tact. "I'm a really good swimmer."

"That's not what I'm saying!" Chopper said shaking his head. "Good swimmer or not, anyone could get hypothermia if they jumped into freezing cold water!"

"Nami, don't be hasty," Robin warned.

"Come on, guys," Nami said. "All of you have eaten some sort of devil fruit, so I'm the only one who can swim."

The others had to agree with that.

"Plus, we're just wasting time here," Nami continued. "Nojiko is being held prisoner in there, and there's no other way in without collapsing the whole island on us." She took off her coat and shoes. It was cold but not nearly as cold as up on the surface.

"Nami, you don't even know how thick this wall is," Chopper said waving his arms again. "What if you get stuck under there?"

Nami smiled. "Luffy'll pull me out!"

"Huh? Me?" Luffy asked pointing to himself.

"Yeah," Nami said. She then pulled on Luffy's rubber arm and quickly wrapped it around her waist.

"Oh, I get it!" Luffy said with a laugh.

"Are you sure about this?" Robin asked.

"I'm sure," Nami said confidently. "If I need to be pulled back I'll just tap his arm."

The others all looked to their captain for his input.

He looked from one person to the other and finally to Nami. He saw the determination in her eyes making him smile. "Let's do it," he said with a nod.

"Luffy," Chopper began to say.

"I trust Nami," Luffy cut him off. "She can do it."

Nami couldn't help but feel touched at her captain's statement. She nodded. "I won't let you guys down!"

"In that case," Brook said. "You might want to take off the rest of your outer clothing, my dear. Then I can finally see your panties!"

Nami immediately punched the skeleton in the head. "You three will see no such thing," she declared.

Robin couldn't help but chuckle a little. "All right, then," she said and used three pairs of devil fruit hands to cover Luffy's, Brook's, and Chopper's eyes.

Nami nodded thanks to Robin and then took off her outer shirt and pants leaving her in her white undershirt and leggings. It would be cold but having extra clothes on her would increase the drag underwater. She took a deep breath and dove in.


	9. Chapter 9: A Mysterious Barrier

**Chapter 9**

**A Mysterious Barrier**

The icy water hit Nami like a barrage of knives causing her to lose a little bit of the air she had taken in. She felt her extremities numb almost immediately, and then the lack of feeling began to creep up her arms and legs. She shook her head underwater trying to concentrate and she willed herself to move. The river current added to her progress and she swam swiftly under the wall, but the cold was almost unbearable. Although her will power was strong, it couldn't stop the fact that her arms and legs began to feel heavy like lead, and she began seeing spots. Her heart rate was dropping and she was losing consciousness. _No!_ she screamed at herself. Nojiko was waiting for her on the other side and this was the only way in! She would never forgive herself if she failed now.

Just when she felt like she couldn't go on any longer, the water around her suddenly changed. The intense coldness started to wane, and feeling began to course back into her limbs. She saw a bright light up ahead, almost like the sun. Soon, the water was very much warmer than it had been a few seconds ago. Nami could hardly believe it.

It was then she felt Luffy's arm around her waist loosen. He seemed to be losing his grip on her. Suddenly, she felt the rubber arm snap back around her and she was no longer connected to her lifeline. What had happened?

Now there was really no turning back. With new feeling in her body, Nami pushed her lungs to their limits as she swam towards the bright light. The cold was not the issue anymore. It was air. She felt her lungs scream at her for oxygen but she mentally yelled at them to shut it as she tried to concentrate on swimming forward.

Finally, she saw that the dark shadow of the wall ended just in front of her and she began to swim up towards the light. Her head broke through the surface, and she gasped for the much needed oxygen. Air had never tasted so good. She treaded water for a minute to catch her breath and only then did she begin to take notice of her surroundings.

The sun? She looked up. The ceiling of rock she had expected was not there. Instead, a vast sky with clouds and all met her gaze. She swam over to the riverbank and pulled herself out of the water. Her hands touched…grass?

Nami looked around her. She seemed to be at the edge of a vast field of wild grass, flowers, and trees, and it was WARM! How was this possible? She looked back at the wall she had just swum under and saw the gate.

Quickly pushing her shock and wonder of the scene before her out of her mind, she ran over to the gate and found it to be wheel operated. She quickly tried turning the wheel, but only after exerting all her strength did it begin to budge. Luckily, once she had started it moving, the wheel spun all on its own. The gate began to open.

Nami expected a rush of cold air to meet her upon the opening of the gate but she felt nothing. "What is going on here?" she said out loud.

After the gate had opened completely, she could only see a dark tunnel that went through the wall. She assumed that the gate on the other side had opened as well. "Hey! Are you guys there?" she yelled to see if her friends had made it through.

"Nami!" she heard Luffy's voice echo through the tunnel.

A smile broke on Nami's face, and she began to run down the tunnel toward her friends. "I did it, guys!" she called. As she got closer to the middle of the tunnel, she slowed to a walk. Her friends were there but for some reason they weren't going past a certain point. "Guys," she said with a laugh. "I opened the gate! What's the hold up?"

"Uh, Nami," Chopper said shakily as he pointed down.

Nami's gaze followed. What she saw made her scream. "BROOK!"

A pile of bones and clothing were all that was left of their musician.

"Wh-wh-what happened?!" Nami stuttered.

"Brook wanted to run ahead so that he could take a look at your panties before the rest of us got there," Luffy explained with a laugh. He seemed completely nonchalant about the whole thing.

"How can you be so calm about this?" Nami yelled at him.

"He ate the Revive fruit," Luffy said with a shrug. "He can't die."

"Look at him!" Nami shouted pointing a finger at the bones. "How can you say that when this is what he looks like?"

"Wait, Nami," Robin said calmly. "Would you mind pushing Brook back over here?"

"Huh?" Nami asked in confusion.

"I have a theory that I want to confirm," Robin stated simply.

"Uh, ok," Nami said and did what she was told. A shiver ran down her spine upon touching the pile of bones that was once Brook. When Brook was a walking, talking skeleton, she had had no qualms about hugging or punching him, but now that he was dead, really dead, she couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable touching the bones.

Once Nami had pushed Brook past a certain point, the pile of bones began to shake. Then suddenly Brook's spirit came rushing in out of nowhere, and the bones stacked themselves back up into their original shape.

"AHHHHH!" Nami screamed.

"AHHHHH!" Chopper screamed simultaneously.

"SOOO COOL!" Luffy screamed with his eyes bugging out.

Robin was the only one who remained a silent observer of the bizarre scene in front of them.

"Oh, my!" Brook said once he had completely put himself back together. "You've all caught me stark naked!" He dramatically covered up his chest and his pelvis area with his boney hands.

"Don't worry, Brook," Robin said with a smile. "We can't see anything."

"Oh, yes! That's right, my dear! Yohohohoho!" Brook said with a hearty laugh. "I am only a skeleton after all!" He picked up his clothes and put them on.

"What just happened here?" Chopper squealed still completely shaken. "You weren't moving a second ago!"

"See? I told you he's not dead!" Luffy said slapping Chopper on the back with glee.

"I can't die," Brook said. "Because I am already dead!"

"Robin," Nami said observing that the dark-haired woman was deep in thought. "What's going on?"

"It's as I thought," Robin said. "When I used my devil fruit arms to try and go through this tunnel, I couldn't get past this point. There was something that prevented me from passing. And now we know that Luffy's rubber arm and Brook's spirit can't get past this point either. There must be some sort of barrier that protects whatever's on the other side of this tunnel from devil fruit users."

"How is that possible?" Nami asked.

"It makes sense when you think about it," Robin continued. "The only ways to get past the wall were to go through this tunnel or swim under the wall like you did. Devil fruit users can't swim so that isn't a viable option, and the barrier here seems to take away any special power a devil fruit user has."

"Does that mean we can't cross?" Luffy asked in alarm.

"Will we all die like Brook?" Chopper asked shakily almost at the point of freaking out completely.

Robin shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "I think that the only reason why Brook's spirit left him was because the Revive fruit's power eternalizes his spirit and not his body. I'm guessing that if, say you, Chopper, were to cross this point, you'd lose your ability to act and think like a human."

"Really?" Chopper asked in amazement.

"But as we just saw here, if we come back to this side of the tunnel, our powers return to us," Robin concluded.

"Hm," Luffy said and immediately stepped over the boundary.

"Luffy!" Nami and Chopper yelled in alarm.

Luffy patted his chest and looked at his body. "I don't feel any different," he said with a shrug.

"Try stretching your arm," Robin instructed.

Luffy nodded and wound up his arm for a stretch. To his utter amazement, his arm remained its normal length. "WAHHH!" he cried in astonishment.

"Were you even listening to what Robin was saying?!" Nami shouted.

"So, it's true then," Chopper said to Robin. "If you and Luffy go past this point, you guys will just lose your abilities to stretch and make devil fruit arms. If Brook goes past, he'll lose his spirit. If I go past, I'll turn back into a wild animal. Isn't that right?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Robin said. "Maybe the best option is to have you and Brook go back to the ship and help the others out. We don't know how they're holding up against the Marines."

"But what about the three of you?" Brook asked. "Is it safe for you to keep going without your devil fruit powers?"

Suddenly a clinking noise echoed through the tunnel.

"What's that?!" Chopper asked in alarm.

Nami looked back towards the gate she had opened. "The gates are closing!" she gasped.

"We have no choice," Luffy said. "Robin, Nami, let's go. Brook, Chopper, you guys head back to the Thousand Sunny. We'll be back!"

"O-ok," Chopper said with a nod. He transformed himself into his running form. "Brook, get on!"

"Right away, my noble steed!" Brook said and hopped onto Chopper's back.

"You guys had better come back!" Chopper yelled at the other three.

"We will!" Luffy said with a laugh.

"Don't worry about us," Nami said.

"Help the others," Robin said.

Chopper nodded and then galloped off towards the quickly closing gate while Luffy, Robin, and Nami sprinted towards the opposite gate.


	10. Chapter 10: The Abnormal Normal Village

**Chapter 10**

**The Abnormal Normal Village**

"What is this place?" Luffy asked in amazement.

"No idea," Nami returned.

Robin, also bewildered at the inconsistency of their situation, looked around.

The vast meadow stretched out before them, complete with rolling hills, flowers and other plants, and a distant forest. There were even wild animals. It was warm. The perfect temperature in fact, and there was a sky filled with clouds and even the sun. It was like they had just discovered a paradise in the middle of the small snowy island at the North Pole.

"This place is HUGE!" Luffy said.

"And so completely inexplicable," Nami said shaking her head. "When I was swimming under the wall, all of a sudden the water temperature changed."

Robin nodded. "Once we crossed through the barrier, the air temperature changed as well."

"Yeah, that was weird," Luffy said putting his hands behind his head.

"In any case, maybe we should keep following the river," Robin suggested. "It's led us this far."

Nami nodded in agreement. "I just hope Chopper and Brook made it past the gate," she said.

"Speaking of the gate," Robin said looking back.

The other two also looked back. "Huh?" they said in unison.

Instead of the gate and wall that used to be behind them, there was now just more beautiful meadow landscape. The river stretched so far back that they couldn't see where it was coming from.

"WHA!" Luffy yelped in surprise. "Wasn't there a gate and wall there?!"

"Does this mean we're trapped?" Nami asked frantically.

"All right, let's keep calm," Robin said crossing her arms. "We may be trapped here for the moment but we should look for some sign of civilization. I can't imagine that this place has been untouched by humans. Someone had to have come here to draw the map of it."

"But the map on the pendant didn't say anything about this meadow," Nami said.

"Wait!" Robin said suddenly and took the pendant out of Nami's bag that she was still carrying.

Nami realized what Robin was doing. "Oh, the sun!"

Robin nodded. "You were right, Nami," she said. "The sun isn't a representation of the island but this meadow that we're standing in right now."

"Really?" Luffy asked in amazement. "How do you know?"

"Look closely," Robin said and held up the pendant for the others to see. "The pattern on the sun is different."

"The rays of the sun all meet in the middle now," Nami said.

"Whoa, weren't they just coming out of the sides of the sun before?" Luffy asked.

Robin nodded. "That's right. And…" She took out her magnifying glass and peered at the pendant. "If you look here, there are very small etchings of a map that have appeared on the sun."

"So the sun is a map too," Nami said. "Damn, I didn't bring any paper with me."

"It's ok," Luffy said. "Robin has that magnifying glass so we can still see the map."

"And it looks like there is a civilization at the center this meadow," Robin said still looking down at the pendant through the magnifying glass. "It's marked with a dot, and the word 'Taiyou' is etched in next to it."

"What does that mean?" Luffy asked.

"It means sun," Robin answered. "Sun in Japanese. I came across the word when I was doing research on Izanagi and Izanami."

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder," Nami said furrowing her eyebrows.

"Indeed," Robin agreed.

"Well, let's hurry up and go towards the town," Luffy said.

"Right!" Nami said nodding her head.

"Hopefully they'll have lots of food, cuz I'm starving!" Luffy added with a laugh.

The three followed the river for a few miles and then caught sight of a small village, not unlike the ones found above ground on other islands. The closer they got to the village, the more bewildered they became. Everything about the place was, well, normal, except for the fact that they had to go underneath a frozen island at the North Pole to get there.

Finally they entered the outskirts of the town. Normal people were milling about doing their business. Upon seeing them, they looked slightly shocked and then whispered to one another casting a glance in their direction every once in a while.

"What's with these people?" Luffy asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Don't be stupid, Luffy," Nami said. "They're probably not used to outsiders like us coming into their town."

After walking the streets for a few minutes one of the village children spotted them and dropped what she was doing to wave. "Visitors!" she shouted happily and ran toward them.

"Hello!" Luffy said waving back.

"Hi!" The girl was probably no more than six years old and was dressed in a homemade skirt and jacket. Her brown hair was pulled back into two braids that hung down on either side of her face. "My name's Akiko, but you can call me Aki!"

"Nice to meet you, Aki," Robin said gracefully. "My name is Robin, and this is Nami and Luffy."

"Oh, hello," Nami said with a smile.

"Aki, huh?" Luffy said. "So you live here?"

Aki nodded. "Isn't it beautiful? My mommy says it's the best place to live in the world!"

"It is quite lovely," Robin said. "Where's your mother now?"

"She's at our house," Aki said brightly. "Want to meet her?"

"That would be wonderful," Robin said with a gentle smile.

"All right!" Aki said. She grabbed Robin's hand and began to lead her to her house.

Nami and Luffy looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh. Even if some people thought Robin was cold and unfriendly, she was amazingly good with children.

"Mommy! Mommy!" Aki called once they arrived at her house.

"Akiko, what's all the fuss?" her mother's voice sounded from the kitchen.

"We have visitors!"

"Visitors?" The sound of running water stopped and soon a plump, friendly-looking woman walked into the living room. "Oh, my, you're right, Akiko!" She smiled warmly at the three Straw Hat Pirates. "My name's Mitsuko and I see you've already met my daughter, Akiko."

"We have," Luffy said with a laugh. "My name's Luffy."

"Hello, my name's Robin."

"I'm Nami."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintances!" Mitsuko said. "It's not often we have visitors here. Except this year we've had more than usual."

"Really?" Nami said hope bubbling up inside her. "What other visitors?"

"Well, we usually don't get any, but you three would be the second, third, and fourth to come this year."

"Who was the first?" Luffy asked.

"I don't know her name," Mitsuko said putting a finger to her cheek. "Our great leader, Nagi, brought her with him to his home, and the villagers never really met her."

"Nagi," Nami said with a hint of malice in her voice.

"Yes," Mitsuko said nodding. She seemed to have missed Nami's tone of anger. "He's the wonderful founder and protector of our quaint little village of Taiyou. I've lived here for years now, and it is by far the best place in the world!"

"See?" Aki said happily.

"But where are my manners?" Mitsuko said laughing. "Have a seat! Have a seat! I'll bring out some tea and snacks, and then I'd love to hear about the three of you."

Nami moved to protest, but Robin stopped her. "That would be lovely," Robin said with an elegant smile.

Nami gave Robin a questioning glance to which the dark-haired woman only nodded in response.

"Snacks! YAHOO!" Luffy said. "That's so nice of you! I'm starving!"

Mitsuko laughed all the more. "Well, I'll bring out a whole lot of snacks then!" she said. "Our crops are bountiful every year here! We've never had a shortage of food. Akiko, come help me bring our guests some food."

"Ok!" The two disappeared into the kitchen.

"Robin," Nami whispered, "why don't we just ask them where this Nagi is and get out of here."

"I think it'd be wise to first gather as much information about this place as we can before deciding what course of action to take," Robin said. "I'm sure we all suspect that the first visitor here is in fact Nojiko, and if that's true, then she is at least alive and hopefully unharmed."

"Yeah, that old lady seems to be really nice," Luffy said. "She's even giving us free food!"

"You think anyone who gives you food is nice," Nami said.

"But the way Mitsuko talked about Nagi is very interesting," Robin said. "She referred to him as their great leader, founder, and protector. Also, they've never had a bad year with their harvest. It does seem like a paradise."

"Impossible," Nami said with a wave of her hand. "I don't know how long this village has been here, but there's no such place that has perfect weather for crops every single year. That's just not how it works."

Aki came skipping back into the room carrying a platter full of delicious looking snacks. Her smiling mother, who held a tray with some cups and a teapot, followed closely behind her. "Please have as much as you want," she said pouring each of them a cup of tea.

"All right! Thank you, Aki's mom!" Luffy said enthusiastically and immediately began devouring the snacks.

Mitsuko only laughed at his intense eating habit and then settled herself in a chair. "So where do you folks come from?" she asked.

"We're travelers from the East Blue," Robin said thinking it would be best not to mention that they were pirates or that they had come from the Grand Line. The East Blue was by far the most peaceful of the four seas, which would make them seem like less of a threat. Plus, Nami and Luffy were both from the East Blue, so she wasn't technically lying.

"The East Blue?" Mitsuko said in surprise. "Why, that's a long way from here!"

"So you've been there?" Robin asked casually sipping her tea.

"A long time ago," Mitsuko said nostalgically. "I was only a child back then."

"Mommy was born there!" Aki said happily.

"Was she now?" Robin said with a chuckle. "How did you come to live so far north?"

"Oh, it's a long story," Mitsuko said picking Aki up so the little girl could sit on her lap. "But to keep it simple, my father was a merchant that sailed the four seas. One day there was a fire on our boat, and we lost everything, but a group of travelers, all in similar situations, asked if we wanted to join them on a journey up north to find a legendary island that held a supposed paradise. Since we had nothing left to lose, we agreed to go with them and see what would happen. Some thought we were fools, but my father in all his travels had heard of this paradise and decided to see for himself if the stories were true.

"One thing led to another and we found our way to the little island you three came to. We thought nothing of it at first since it looked like a frozen wasteland, but then a bright, shining light appeared beckoning us to follow it. The light led us to this underground paradise, and needless to say, we never left."

"So, none of you have ever left this place after settling down?" Robin asked.

"No, some of the men go back out once in a while to run errands for Nagi. And speaking of Nagi, I forgot to mention that he was the one that summoned the light for us to follow."

"Summoned the light?"

"Yes. He has control over light and fire. He's a prophet!"

"Light and fire…" Robin mused.

"He's the one who gives us the sun in our sky," Mitsuko continued. "You might not believe me but believe what you see out there. He created this paradise, and all of us here are grateful to have him as our leader."

"He sounds…like a wonderful person," Robin said politely.

Nami flinched at the comment but managed to keep quiet.

"He most certainly is," Mitsuko said. "So, enough about me. What brings you here to Taiyou?"

"We're just explorers traveling the seas," Robin said. "Nami is trying to draw a world map of the all the islands we discover."

"Oh, quite the daunting task," Mitsuko said.

"Uh, yeah…it is," Nami said with a nervous laugh.

"Our travels have led us here to the island, and we were lucky enough to discover this place as well," Robin continued.

Nami was usually the smooth talker of the group but she was tongue-tied at the moment. Robin was doing an amazing job, though, telling the truth yet leaving out the parts that would inhibit them from gathering information. Maybe she had rubbed off on Robin. The thought made her smile.

"Well, you must meet Nagi!" Mitsuko said enthusiastically. "No trip here would be complete without doing so!"

"That would be wonderful," Robin said.

"Hey, do guys want those?" Luffy asked Robin and Nami pointing to the last few snacks on the platter.

"No, you go right ahead," Robin said.

"I'm fine," Nami said.

"Wow! He eats more than Daddy!" Aki laughed.

"My, you do have quite the appetite," Mitsuko said. "If you want to go explore our little village for a bit and meet Nagi, you're always welcome to come back here for dinner!"

"You're too kind," Robin said. "But we've intruded upon your hospitality quite enough."

"Nonsense," Mitsuko laughed.

"We would love to stay, but I think it would be good for us to meet Nagi, and then we must return to our ship," Robin said eloquently.

"Well, it's been my pleasure meeting you all," Mitsuko said. "If you want to see Nagi, just take a left out of here and then go straight to the center of town. He lives in the white tower. You can't miss it!"

"Thank you very much," Robin said.

"Yes, thank you," Nami quickly added.

"Your snacks are the best!" Luffy said.

"Thank you, young man," Mitsuko said with a laugh.

"Bye bye now!" Aki said waving. "Please come visit us again sometime!"

"We most definitely will!" Robin said patting the girl on the head making the child smile all the more.

Soon the three were back outside and began to make their way toward the center of town.

"Wow, Robin," Nami said thoroughly impressed. "You're just as good as I am when it comes to getting information from people."

"I did learn from the best," Robin laughed.

"The food here is really good," Luffy said. "Everything's so fresh!"

"If this Nagi character really is Izanagi from the legend, then he would have control over the sun," Robin mused. "Then it would make sense that he could make it so that the weather was always good here. Mitsuko did say he had power over light and fire."

"But that's impossible, right?" Nami said. "No one can just magically make fire or light appear unless they had the powers of a devil fruit, but we already discovered that any devil fruit users lose their abilities when they cross the barrier."

"Maybe it's a different kind of power. Maybe it's one that doesn't rely on devil fruits," Luffy said.

"Huh," Nami said putting a fist under her chin to think. "Maybe…"

"In any case, we should find that tower," Robin said. "If the first visitor that Mitsuko mentioned was indeed Nojiko, then she would most likely be there."

"Yes," Nami said. "Let's hurry."


	11. Chapter 11: Rescue Nojiko

**Chapter 11**

**Rescue Nojiko**

Back on the Thousand Sunny, the remaining Straw Hats had made full preparations to take on the infamous Marine fleet number seven. Robin had been right to think that the blizzard was to their advantage since they weren't the ones plowing through the ice and snow.

Franky was only too happy to pull out all the stops on his defense system for his beloved ship. It had been a while since he had had the opportunity to use it all, and he was determined to make it a good show.

Sanji dutifully kept an eye on the Marines, careful to make sure they would be completely prepared before they came into firing range.

That was usually Usopp's job, but his fear of fleet number seven made him utterly refuse to go back up to the crow's nest. Instead, Usopp used the extra time they had to pack up all his ammunition and even make a few more. At least this way he would be inside the cabin and unable to see the ominous shadowy front that was creeping ever closer to their ship.

Zoro, on the other hand, had decided to take a quick nap before the fight began, complaining that they were taking too long to get to them. Even in the wicked blizzard that was pummeling the ship, Zoro's remarkable ability to sleep literally anywhere once again made an appearance.

"How's it looking?" Franky asked the blonde cook who was smoking a cigarette.

Sanji blew a puff of smoke in the frosty air. "For being an infamous fleet, they sure are taking their merry time," he said.

"I'll say," Franky said and stretched his arms above his head. He then proceeded to crack his neck and then stretched out his legs from side to side. "I've already got my baby all souped up and ready to go, and they're still that far away, huh?"

"For once I'll agree that Zoro was right to take a nap," Sanji said with a yawn. "I had to get up earlier than anyone else to cook breakfast."

"That's nothing," Franky laughed. "I stayed up all night keeping watch."

"Well, you did stay on the ship yesterday," Sanji said.

"Yeah, but even if I didn't do too much, staying up for that long is still tiring."

The two men heard a small creak and they turned to see Usopp's long nose poking out from behind the cabin door. "Are they here yet?" Usopp whispered.

"What're you whispering for?" Franky said in a normal voice. "They're not even close."

"Ah, that's good!" Usopp said swinging the door completely open. "I just wanted to make sure that they didn't see our secret weapon!"

"And what might that be?" Sanji asked wryly already guessing what Usopp's answer would be.

"Me, of course! AHAHAHA!" Usopp laughed putting his hands on his hips. "They won't even know what hit them when I get through with them!"

"Uh-huh," Franky said and turned back to face the oncoming Marines.

"Looks like they'll be within firing range soon," Sanji said and put his cigarette out in the ashtray he had next to him. "Go wake up Zoro," he said to Usopp.

"Wh-what?! ME?!" Usopp stuttered.

"Yeah, got a problem?"

"I NEVER wake up Zoro," Usopp said stoutly. "You know what he's like when someone wakes him up!"

Sanji rolled his eyes. It was true that the swordsman did have a temper upon being woken from naps, but the only people his temper would've stopped from waking him up in this situation were the more cowardly of the crew like Usopp or maybe Chopper. "You never change," Sanji said coolly and walked over to the sleeping Zoro.

Just when Sanji was about to perform a well-aimed kick to Zoro's head, the group heard the sound of a cannon blast echo through the air.

"What? I thought they were supposed to be the infamous fleet number seven," Franky said crossing his arms. "They're not even in range yet and they're already firing."

"Don't underestimate them!" Usopp's muffled voice came from the cabin.

Franky raised an eyebrow and then walked over to the railing to see where the cannon ball had landed. To his surprise the shot was not a cannon ball but instead some sort of fire-powered rocket that was slicing through the ice straight towards the ship. "Well, that's unusual," Franky chuckled. He took out his control panel and pressed a button.

A hatch opened on the side of the ship and a cannon ball was fired directly at the oncoming rocket. The two projectiles collided resulting in a fierce explosion.

"OW! They'll have to do better than that!" Franky laughed. "Oi, Sanji!"

"Yeah?"

"Don't bother waking Zoro up. These guys are a joke!"

Sanji shrugged his shoulders and went back over to where the cyborg was standing. "I guess this won't be that entertaining after all."

Just as the words left his mouth, they heard the sound of hundreds of cannons firing all at once.

"Huh?" Franky said and squinted his eyes to see further.

"Or maybe we can have some fun," Sanji smiled.

Franky frowned and began pushing more buttons on his control pad. "That's just for show," he said. "Take this!"

The Thousand Sunny shot off an alarming number of homing missiles set on course to collide with incoming projectiles. Hundreds of explosions lit the snowy sky causing the ice below to crack and dissipate.

"Oh, I see what they're up to," Franky said. "I guess they thought their progress was too slow too, so they're using their artillery in hopes that we'll counter to break the ice more quickly."

"Good, I was beginning to think I'd die of boredom," Sanji said.

When the snow and debris had settled, they saw that the Marine fleet was in shockingly close firing range.

"What the?" Franky yelled. "How'd they get that close so fast?" He began pushing more buttons on the control pad.

"It doesn't matter," Sanji said with a gleeful smile. "Now I can get some action." He leapt off the side of the ship and started making his way over to the Marines by jumping from iceberg to iceberg.

"That guy's crazy," Franky muttered to himself. "Oi! Usopp!"

No response.

Franky then pushed another button on the control pad, and after a moment the door of the cabin flew open, and a very scared Usopp came running out. "Ow, ow, ow! I'm out, ok? Just call it off!"

Franky laughed and then pushed the button to call off his little mechanical helper that he had stored in the main cabin. Usually the helper was used for ship work but its fire torch could also be used for other things as well. "Go wake up Zoro," he said turning his attention back to the exploding battle scene in front of him.

"N-n-now?"

"Now, you idiot!" Franky roared. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Ok, ok!" Usopp said and walked over to the snoring green-haired man. He took in a gulp and then shook his shoulder. "Oi, Zoro," he said sheepishly. "Uh, the Marines are here."

A smoldering piece of debris crashed onto the deck making Usopp jump out of his skin in panic. "Zoro, wake up you lazy ass!" he screamed into Zoro's ear.

That definitely woke the swordsman up. "Why you little!" he roared attempting to strangle Usopp.

"The the the the deck!" Usopp managed to gasp out despite the obstruction around his trachea that was Zoro's hands.

Only then did Zoro notice that the deck was on fire. He dropped the blue-faced Usopp and took out his three swords. "DRAGON TWISTER!" he shouted as he spun his blades around at an incredible speed. The resulting tornado was enough to put out the flames. After that was done he looked around. "Oi, Usopp, where's Sanji?"

Usopp coughed a few times and took in some deep breaths on account of his near-death experience via Zoro's chokehold. "He…went out there already," Usopp said pointing towards the Marine fleet.

"That bastard," Zoro said running towards the railing. He jumped over the side and landed on the ice below. "He had better have saved some for me!" And then he was off running like a madman through the battlefield of floating icebergs.

"Those guys are both crazy," Usopp said to himself.

The battle raged on without either side giving way to the other. Franky's defense system was nothing to laugh at, but the sheer firepower on the Marine ships wasn't either. Usopp had even gathered his courage to fire off some of his Firebird Stars aiding Franky's endeavors to protect the ship from the seemingly endless barrage of projectiles.

Back in the peaceful village of Taiyou, Luffy, Nami, and Robin had made it into the town square. Looming before them was the tower that Mitsuko had told them about. Compared to the other small surrounding buildings, it seemed a little out of place.

"This must be it," Nami said shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked up at the gigantic structure.

"Wow, it's so tall," Luffy said.

"It is quite conspicuous," Robin commented. "Well, shall we?"

The other two nodded and they approached the door.

"I guess we knock," Nami said raising her hand to do so, but before her fist made contact with the door, it swung itself open. "Uh, hello?" Nami called tentatively.

No response.

"Should we go in?" Nami asked Robin.

"Well, even if no one's here at the door, I'm guessing that the gesture would suggest that we enter."

Luffy was way ahead of the girls as he ooed and awed at the elaborate decorations inside the tower. "Wow, this place is awesome!" Luffy gawked.

Nami rolled her eyes and entered followed by Robin.

"HELLO?" Luffy yelled. "ANYONE HOME?"

"Welcome," a deep voice echoed through the hall. "I've been expecting you."

The three looked up at the balcony overhanging the main room and saw a tall, handsome man with shocking white hair and blazing red eyes.

"Nagi," Nami said clenching her fists. She began to move towards the steps so that she could give the man a piece of her mind.

Robin held out a hand to stop her. "You are Nagi, I presume," she said. "Or should we address you as Izanagi?"

The man smiled at her comment. "Nagi is just fine," he said.

Nami couldn't hold it in any longer. "What did you do with my sister, you bastard?!" she screamed.

Nagi seemed unphased. "Quite the temper you have, Nami," he said with a chuckle. "Nojiko."

The three pirates watched as Nami's older sister walked up to the balcony railing next to Nagi. She seemed to be anxious but unharmed.

"N-Nojiko!" Nami gasped.

"Nami," Nojiko said hesitantly.

"It's all right," Nagi said nodding to the trembling woman next to him.

Nojiko looked up at Nagi and then quickly started running down the stairs.

Nami followed suit and began running toward her sister. The two embraced.

"Nami! I can't believe you're here!" Nojiko cried.

"Nojiko, are you hurt? What did that bastard do to you?" Nami said looking her over to make sure she had no injuries.

"No, I'm all right," Nojiko said. "He didn't hurt me at all."

Nami couldn't believe it. She stood up to face Nagi who hadn't moved from his spot on the balcony. "What are you playing at?"

"I'm not playing at all," Nagi said. "I just wanted to speak with you."

Nami frowned. "If you just wanted to talk then why did you involve Nojiko?"

"It's a strange predicament that I'm in," Nagi said and he began to slowly walk down the steps toward the main floor.

Nami quickly pulled Nojiko up and dragged her away from the stairs. "S-stop right there!" Nami said with a hint of fear in her voice.

Suddenly Luffy appeared in front of the sisters. "Hey, I don't know who you think you are, but no one is allowed to hurt Nami or her family," he growled menacingly.

Nagi paused his descent to study the young man in front of him. "And who might you be?" he asked coldly.

"Monkey D. Luffy, King of the Pirates."

"King of the Pirates?" Nagi repeated in a slightly mocking tone. "Oh, so you've found the One Piece, have you?"

"I have," Luffy said simply.

"And yet you do not know the true meaning behind the power it possesses," Nagi stated with a frown.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You may be the Pirate King, but by name only."

Luffy grated his teeth together and clenched his fist. "You'd better stop underestimating me!"

Nagi smiled at how riled up Luffy was. "I've heard of you, Monkey D. Luffy," he said with a laugh. "You're quite famous, even here so far north. In fact, I need to thank you for becoming so famous. You see, I have been searching a very long time for Nami and I wouldn't have found her if it hadn't been for your extensive reputation."

Luffy's frown deepened. He was beginning to feel that it was his fault that Nami was in the situation she was in now. He clenched his fists more tightly and held them up in a fighting stance.

Nagi laughed. "You're not really turning to violence are you?" he said. "I'm not here to harm anyone. All I wanted was to speak with Nami."

"I don't care!" Luffy said, his temper flaring. "You'll have to get through me first."

"I'd be careful, if I were you, Pirate King," Nagi said scornfully. "Your devil fruit powers won't work here."

"I won't need them to beat the likes of you," Luffy said hotly.

Nagi sighed. "I really dislike fighting," he said.

"Well too bad!" Luffy yelled and began running toward Nagi. He grabbed Nagi by the shirt and pulled his fist back.

"Luffy, stop!" Nami screamed before he could land the punch.

Luffy paused and looked over at Nami incredulously. "Nami, this man destroyed your home and took your sister!"

"If he's really the one who destroyed my home then we don't stand a chance against him without your devil fruit powers!" Nami shouted. "I don't want to see anyone get hurt!"

The usually overconfident Luffy twitched. He'd never had a real fight without his Gum Gum powers.

"Luffy, let him go!" Nami ordered.

Luffy scowled at Nagi but did as he was told.

Nami took a few steps toward the tall, white-haired man. "What do you want from me?" she asked bravely.

Nagi looked Nami straight in the eyes completely ignoring the fuming Luffy in front of him. "You might not believe me when I say this, but you and I have a long history together."

Nami narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"As I'm sure you've guessed, I am Izanagi, god of the sun," he continued. "And you, although you may not know it, are Izanami, my most precious and beautiful goddess of the sea."

Nami scoffed. "Yeah right," she said. "Sorry to break it to you, but you must be looking for a different Izanami."

Nagi only smiled in return. "I don't blame you for having your doubts," he said calmly. "But now that I have seen you, I know it to be true. Let me ask you something. Where do you think your unrivalled talent of understanding the sea and the wind come from? How is it that you can draw maps more accurately than any living being alive? And no, it's not because you're a prodigy. Your talents far exceed that of any human capability."

Nami didn't know what to say in response.

"Hm," Nagi said. "You have no parents, no real family. You don't even know where you came from."

"Shut up!" Nami shouted.

"If you really examined yourself closely, you would realize that things don't add up," Nagi continued. "I don't even need to say what you already know to be true. If you want the proof, then I suggest you go back to the place where you were born."

"Nami," Nojiko said and put a hand on her sister's shaking frame.

"JUST SHUT UP!" Luffy yelled grabbing Nagi by his shirt again. "Stop talking like you know her! You don't know anything about her!" He pulled back his fist and this time sent it flying straight into Nagi's face. Even without his devil fruit powers, Luffy still possessed incredible strength as well as the use of his powerful Haki.

However, as a small trail of blood trickled down from Nagi's mouth, there was no sign of pain or intimidation in his expression. He seemed completely unaffected by Luffy's physical attack or his Haki.

"Luffy, stop!" This time it was Nojiko who yelled and not Nami. "This man did nothing to hurt me and he promised that once he spoke with Nami he would let us go! Don't go making the situation worse than it already is!"

Luffy's clenched fist trembled with anger.

"Luffy!" Nojiko pleaded with him again.

"Luffy," Robin said firmly. "Nojiko's right. We need not resort to violence." She then turned her attention to Nagi. "So are you going to keep your promise to Nojiko?" she asked him.

Nagi swatted away Luffy's grip on his shirt and nodded. "I never lie."

Robin narrowed her eyes at him but then quickly walked over to Luffy and dragged him back towards the door. "Let's go," she said to the sisters.

Nojiko nodded and helped Nami exit the tower. When she closed the door behind her, she caught one last glimpse of the man called Nagi who stood tall and still, his blazing red eyes following every one of her sister's movements like a snake.


	12. Chapter 12: Escape from Paradise

**Chapter 12**

**Escape from Paradise**

"Oh no!" Chopper exclaimed as he and Brook made it out of the cave only to see that the Thousand Sunny was under heavy fire.

"Oh, my!" Brook said. "It seems that those Marines are putting up more of a fight than we had suspected."

"I hope Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and Franky are ok!" Chopper said sprinting as fast as he could toward the ship.

The two galloped the short quarter mile to the Thousand Sunny dodging stray cannonballs and debris along the way. With one athletic leap, Chopper sailed over the railing of the ship and landed on the deck.

"Huh? Oh, you're back," Franky said with a wave.

"Don't get distracted!" Usopp screamed. "How can you not take this seriously?!"

"I am taking it seriously, Long-nose," Franky sighed. "See what I have to put up with?" he said to Chopper and Brook as he jerked a thumb in Usopp's direction.

"Where are Zoro and Sanji?" Brook asked getting off of Chopper's back.

"Don't tell me that they're…" Chopper said frantically after reverting back to his normal form.

"Oh, please," Franky said with a laugh. "You really think they'd go that easily? They're out there." He pointed to the Marine ships. As if on cue, one of the ships literally fell apart before their very eyes, like it had been sliced up. Franky laughed. "That's Zoro for you! But where are Luffy, Nami, and Robin?"

"We were forced, under very exceptional circumstances, to part ways," Brook said. "However, there is no need to fear. The captain shall protect our two lovely flowers."

"So you guys found something, then?" Franky asked.

"Now's not the time to be having this conversation!" Usopp said waving his arms hysterically. "The ship's already taken some heavy damage! These guys aren't like other Marine fleets!"

"Damn," Franky said in frustration. "I can't believe they're holding up against my defense system!"

"Well then, shall I be of assistance?" Brook said taking out his cane. "Come Chopper, we must jump over to enemy lines!"

Chopper gulped down a lump in his throat. He didn't like fighting but in this situation he had to be brave so he nodded and then transformed to his jumping form.

Brook hopped back onto the reindeer's back. "CHARGE!" he sang with some added vibrato as he unsheathed his sword.

Chopper jumped high in the air and landed on the ice below. He then proceeded to leap from iceberg to iceberg until they made it over to an enemy ship. Brook used his powerful sword to cut through any projectiles that came near them.

Just then, Usopp and Franky felt the ship shake as it took another hit from the Marines. "All right, this has gone on for long enough!" the shipwright said his blood boiling. "I'm going to show 'em what we're really made of!"

"But Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, and Brook are all over there now!" Usopp said.

"Don't worry about them," Franky said. "This one's gonna be aimed straight for their cannons. BWAHAHAHA!" He laughed evilly as he began to press buttons at an amazing speed on his control panel.

Luffy and the girls ran out of the town as quickly as they could, surprising the villagers, but they didn't care. They only stopped running when they reached the outskirts of town.

"Robin, let go of me!" Luffy yelled when they finally stopped.

Surprised at his outburst, Robin immediately complied. She watched her captain stalk off a little ways from the group shaking with anger. It was rare to see him like this. Robin quickly turned her attention to Nami and Nojiko.

They were sitting on a rock catching their breath while Nojiko was holding Nami's hand and rubbing her back trying to calm her down.

"Are the two of you all right?" Robin asked.

Nojiko nodded. "Yes," she said. "I just think the sooner we get out of this place the better."

Robin nodded back. "I'm Robin, by the way," she said.

"Oh. Nojiko," the blue-haired woman said with a small smile.

"It's unfortunate that we had to meet under such circumstances," Robin said.

"Yes, it certainly is," Nojiko said.

Nami then jumped up from the rock surprising the other two girls. Her eyes were ablaze. "Who does that bastard think he is?!" she shouted.

"Nami, calm down," Nojiko said quickly standing up. She placed her hands on Nami's shoulders and pushed her back down to sit on the rock. "He didn't hurt anyone so at least we can be thankful for that."

"But how could he do that to you?" Nami fumed. "If he wanted to talk to me, he didn't have to involve you!"

Nojiko sighed and crossed her arms. "I'm not sure if I understand all of this either, but he told me that he could only leave this island for very short periods of time."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure," Nojiko said with a shake of her head. "He said things like he was being hunted or something. I don't exactly know what he meant."

"I guess if it's true that he could only leave this island for short periods of time, then I can see the logic behind the kidnapping of your sister, Nami," Robin said. "He said that he had found you because of Luffy's reputation. That would also mean he knew that you were somewhere out on the ocean and so he wouldn't have had the amount of time necessary to go out and search for you. The reason why he kidnapped your sister was because he needed for you to come to him."

"But it's still an unforgivable thing to do," Nami said, "that he would stoop so low as to involve a completely innocent person just for his own selfish reasons!"

"I most certainly agree with you," Robin said. "But now's not the time to be angry. We need to figure out how to get out of this place."

"Aren't there gates surrounding this meadow?" Nojiko asked.

"Yes, that's how we were able to get in," Robin said. "But they disappeared after we went through."

"I remember Nagi telling me that he controlled the gates," Nojiko said. "He said that he could chose to have them appear to certain people and disappear to others."

"If that's true, and he said that we could go, let's hope that they've reappeared," Robin said.

Nojiko nodded. "Nami, we should get out of here," she said to her sister.

"Luffy," Robin called.

The captain was standing near the river with his back turned toward the three girls.

"We have to leave," Robin said walking up to him.

"Yeah…" Luffy muttered.

Robin looked him over and sighed. "I know you're angry and frustrated, but you should forget about him for now. There's nothing we can do."

"But that's just it," Luffy said clenching a fist. "I knew right after I punched that bastard that there was nothing I could do."

Robin raised an eyebrow.

"For the first time in my life, I knew I couldn't win that fight," he said, his whole body shaking.

"You didn't have your devil fruit powers though," Robin said matter-of-factly.

"That shouldn't matter," Luffy said. "Gold Roger didn't need a devil fruit to protect the people he cared about! I'm the King of the Pirates now! I shouldn't need to rely on anything!" He turned away in a huff.

Robin knew that trying to reason with him was not the smart thing to do at the moment. He was angry. Angry because he knew that he couldn't protect Nami. It didn't matter that he was in a place that devil fruit powers were cancelled out. If he couldn't protect those he cared about, he wouldn't take anything for an excuse. "I understand your frustration," Robin said calmly. "But for Nami's sake, we need to get back to the ship." She saw the tension in Luffy's body dissolve at her voice of reason.

Luffy looked over at Nami and her sister and straightened up. "You're right," he finally said. "We should go."

The four trekked across the meadow in silence. As Nojiko said, the gate and wall were back, and they were able to cross through easily. By the time they made it back to the ship, it was already hours past dark. All was quiet when they arrived.

"Hey, they're back!" Chopper said as finished slapping a bandage on Usopp's face.

"Took you guys long enough," Zoro said. He was bandaged up around his chest and arms but looked fine otherwise. The others were also bandaged as well. It looked like they had won the battle but had taken some damage as well.

"Are you guys ok?" Chopper asked worriedly.

"We're fine. Thank you, Chopper," Robin said. "For those who haven't met her yet, this is Nami's sister, Nojiko."

"Nojiko-chaaaan!" Sanji said skipping into view. "It's been years!" He took her hand and kissed it chivalrously.

"Haha…likewise, Sanji," Nojiko said hesitantly.

"Hey, Nojiko!" Usopp greeted. "Long time no see!"

"This is Chopper, our doctor," Robin introduced. "Franky, our shipwright, is probably working on repairs, and Brook is our musician."

"Oh!" Nojiko said in surprise.

"Please do not be alarmed, my lovely princess," Brook said bowing.

Chopper noticed that Luffy and Nami were both unusually quiet. He walked over to them. "Hey, Luffy, Nami," he said quietly while the others were talking. "Is everything ok?"

Nami seemed to snap out of it and smiled down at the reindeer. "Oh, everything's fine, Chopper," Nami said with a smile. "It's just been a long day."

Luffy said nothing as he lowered his hat to cover his eyes and then sauntered off towards the main cabin. He went in and shut the door without a word.

"Luffy…" Nami said.

"What's up with him?" Zoro asked.

"I think it's best not to bother him now," Robin said. "We all need to get some rest tonight because tomorrow we'll be setting sail again."

"Where to?" Usopp asked.

"To Nami's birthplace," Nojiko answered before Robin spoke.

"Really?" Usopp said in confusion. "Why?"

"It's a long story," Nojiko said. "We'll fill everyone in tomorrow."

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea," Robin agreed.

Usopp and Chopper looked at each other and shrugged. No one seemed to be in the mood for explaining things, so everyone went into their cabins to prepare for bed. Tomorrow was going to be a full day of sailing.


	13. Chapter 13: An Argument Between Friends

**Chapter 13**

**An Argument Between Friends**

"Oi, Luffy. Just how long are you going to stay depressed like that?" Zoro called over to his somewhat limp rubber friend.

It had been a few days since leaving the icy unknown island at the North Pole. Robin explained to the rest of the crew what had happened to them and why Luffy was so upset. She strongly advised them to let him be.

Luffy didn't respond to his first mate as he hung over the side of the ship and stared at the water below.

"Geez, he's been like that for days now," Zoro said to himself.

"Leave him be," Robin said turning a page in her book.

"Luffy!" Usopp called as he ran over to him. "You want to see something neat?"

No response.

"Chopper and I came up with this great game!" Usopp continued trying to cheer his captain up. "Want to join?"

Silence.

Usopp's face fell.

"He's not listening at all," Chopper said worriedly.

"It's like he has major depression or something," Sanji said puffing a cigarette.

"Chopper, give him something to make him better," Usopp said.

"What? I'm a doctor not a psychologist!" Chopper said waving his arms in the air. "You can't just hand out medicine to people without the right diagnosis. That's dangerous!"

Robin stood up and shut her book. "I told you all to leave him be," she said firmly.

The four looked over at her shocked that she raised her voice at them.

"R-Robin…" Chopper said.

"He just needs some time," Robin said in a calmer tone of voice. "There's nothing we can do about it right now."

"Ok…" the four said unenthusiastically.

"Hey, Usopp," Chopper whispered.

"Hm?"

"When Luffy's upset like this, isn't Nami usually the one to make him feel better?"

"Well, yeah. Usually…"

"But they haven't been talking since they got back," Chopper said. "Isn't that strange?"

"Now that you mention it, it is pretty strange," Usopp said rubbing his chin. "I wonder if they got in a fight and Robin didn't tell us about it."

"Let's go see what Nami's up to now!"

"Good idea!"

The two looked over at Robin who had sat back down and was seemingly engrossed in her book again.

Usopp and Chopper quietly snuck around the back of the ship and up the stairs. Once they were at the girl's cabin door, Usopp peeked through the glass.

Nami was sitting at her map desk with her back turned towards the door. Her sister, Nojiko, was saying something to her, but it didn't look like Nami was responding. Finally, Usopp saw Nojiko sigh, and then she began to walk towards the door.

"Eeee!" Usopp squeaked and pushed Chopper back so that they were up against the wall on the side where the door would cover them when opened.

Nojiko pushed open the door and immediately turned to go down the stairs. It didn't seem like she had noticed the two eavesdroppers.

Usopp quickly stuck his foot in the door before it closed completely. "Whew!" Usopp whispered wiping the sweat from his brow.

"That was close," Chopper said. Then he realized something. "Usopp, why are we sneaking around in the first place? Shouldn't we just go in and ask Nami what's wrong?"

"Think about it, Chopper. None of these guys are going to tell us what's going on so we got to find out ourselves! Don't you want to know too?"

The small reindeer nodded. "Yeah…"

Zoro, Sanji, Franky, and Brook didn't seem to mind being left in the dark, but curiosity had gotten the better of Usopp and Chopper. They had to find out.

The nosy pair peeked into Nami's room.

"Oi, what are you peeping toms doing here?" Sanji said out of nowhere, his eyes dark with anger.

"AIYEEE!" Usopp and Chopper cried in unison.

"You're not peeping in on Nami-san, are you?"

"N-n-n-n-n-no, no, you got it all wrong, Sanji!" Usopp stuttered.

"Without me?!" Sanji pushed the other two down, squishing them against the floor so that he could also peep in on what he hoped was Nami changing.

"You idiot!" Usopp said pushing Sanji back up.

Now that the weight of the two men was off of him, Chopper popped up from the floor and gasped for air.

"We're not all perverted like you, you know?!"

"Perverted?"

The three looked up to see that their undead friend had appeared behind them.

"Brook?!"

"Are you three naughty naughty boys peeping in on Nami?" Brook asked leaning in.

"N-n-no!" Chopper tried to explain.

"We sure are!" Sanji said wistfully.

"Yohohoho! I must join in!" Brook said and pushed the three back down on the ground, once again squishing poor Chopper against the deck.

Sanji and Brook looked expectantly in the room but only saw Nami sitting at the map desk with her head in her hands.

"Huh? Nami-san?" Sanji said.

"GET OFF OF MEEE!" Chopper roared as he changed into his human form, sending Brook, Sanji, and Usopp flying.

"WAHHH!"

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Nami said pushing open the door.

"Nami-swaaan!" Sanji said before Usopp could explain. "I caught these three trying to take a peek!"

"What?!" Usopp screamed. "Liar! You and Brook were the ones who wanted to see something inappropriate!"

Usually Nami wouldn't have thought twice about bonking each of them on the head, but this time she didn't. "Oh, you guys," Nami said with a small laugh.

The four froze and stared at their navigator.

Usopp's jaw dropped to the ground. "Ch-Ch-Chopper! Nami's sick! She needs medicine!"

"You're right! Nami, don't worry! Leave it to me!" Chopper squealed. He was about to run off when Nami bonked all four of them on the head.

"OW!" they said simultaneously.

"Why'd you have to hit me too?" Sanji cried.

"And me?!" Brook sobbed.

"I'm not sick and I don't need medicine!" Nami shouted at them. Then she calmed down and sighed. "I'm fine, you guys. I…just needed to think. That's all."

"Nami," Chopper said. "I know you might not want to talk about it, but both you and Luffy are scaring us!"

"Luffy?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, he's been all depressed these past few days and he won't even tell us why," Usopp explained.

Nami's face fell. "Oh," she said quietly.

"And we noticed that you and him haven't been talking at all since you came back. Are you mad at him?" Chopper asked almost like a small child asking his mommy if she was fighting with daddy.

Nami put on a strong face and laughed. "No, nothing like that, Chopper!" she said lightly and patted him on the head. "You know what? I'll go talk to him. See what's up!"

"That's my Nami-swan for you!" Sanji said. "Always thinking about helping others!"

Nami laughed again. "Sanji-kun, would you mind making Luffy's favorite for dinner tonight?"

"Of course, Nami-swan!" Sanji said. "Anything you wish is my command!"

"Talk about being completely whipped," Usopp said to himself.

"What'd you say?" Sanji blazed.

"Ok, I'll go talk to Luffy now!" Nami said. "You guys behave."

"Ok!" Chopper said happily. If anyone could cheer Luffy up it was Nami, and she seemed to be ok too. Maybe they were all worrying for nothing.

Nami made her way down to where Luffy was still hanging limply over the rail. "Hey, Luffy," she said leaning on the railing next to him.

He didn't respond.

"How's it going?"

Still nothing.

Nami's smiled quickly turned into a frown. In the blink of an eye, she slapped him across the face. "RESPOND TO ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!" she roared.

The others on the deck all took several steps back shaking in fear.

"Nami is so scary!" Chopper cried. The others nodded in agreement.

"Oi, Nami! Why'd you hit me like that?" Luffy shouted in her face.

"Because you were ignoring me, idiot!"

"That's no reason to get violent!"

"You're one to talk!"

As the two argued back and forth, Usopp, Brook, and Chopper all began to cry tears of joy. "He's back to normal!" they shouted ecstatically.

"You guys are taking this way too seriously," Zoro commented.

Finally the two stopped their argument and settled back down.

"Geez, Luffy. You are the most stubborn person I've ever met," Nami said with a huff.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he said with a reciprocating huff.

"You can't possibly still be upset about that jerk, Nagi, are you?"

Luffy fell quiet again and leaned down on the railing.

"Luffy," Nami said more gently realizing that she had hit the nail on the head.

"Nami," Luffy said. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I couldn't protect you or Nojiko," he said keeping his eyes glued to the sea.

"What are you talking about, Luffy? Nojiko's safe now and no one got hurt."

Luffy shook his head. "That's not it," he said. "If he had started to fight, there would've been nothing I could've done."

Nami lowered her head down attempting to look Luffy in the eye. "What are you talking about? You don't know that."

Luffy shook his head. "I do," he said.

Nami wasn't exactly a very experienced fighter since she had everyone, even Usopp, to rely on. To her, it just looked like Luffy had punched Nagi in the face and that was that.

"We're going to have to face him again," Luffy said. "And when we do…he'll want to take you away."

"Huh?"

"I can't let him do that!" Luffy said suddenly standing up straight. "I can't let him take you away from me!"

"Luffy…" She tried to put a hand on his shoulder, but he swatted it away.

Without another word he stalked off to the main cabin and slammed the door shut behind him.

Nami stared after him for a moment before she could bring herself to speak again. "Ok, what the hell just happened?" she asked no one in particular.

"Someone like you wouldn't understand," Zoro said lifting an eyelid in Nami's direction.

"What do you mean someone like me?" Nami asked hotly.

Zoro shrugged. "You're not exactly a fighter."

"So?"

"Good fighters know that true strength isn't measured by how you fight but by knowing your own strength and your opponent's."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning," Zoro said opening both eyes now. "Luffy is a strong warrior. He's never acted like this before because he's never fought someone he knew he wouldn't be able to eventually beat. This Nagi guy is the first."

"But Luffy punched HIM!"

"It doesn't matter," Zoro said shaking his head. "When it comes to fighting, Luffy's no idiot. He knows his strength and he knows how to read his opponents."

"So, those times when he was fighting all those people, all those monsters, he knew the whole time he was going to win?" Nami asked in disbelief.

Zoro nodded. "Yup."

Nami shook her head. This was all new information to her. Whenever Luffy or any of the others were fighting against someone that she thought they had no chance against, they all knew that they could win. That would explain why they never took anything too seriously. Sure they've all had near-death experiences, but they had always come out on top. If what Zoro was saying was true, and Luffy really did think he couldn't beat Nagi, then did that mean they were done for if they ever met him again? The thought began to scare her.

Zoro saw the emotions run across Nami's face and got up to walk over to her. "Stop…uh, thinking too much about it," he said attempting to be nice.

Nami tried to keep herself from shaking and let her bangs cover her eyes to avoid making eye contact with the swordsman.

"You should know better than anyone that Luffy's the most stubborn idiot in the world," he said.

Nami looked up at Zoro.

"Just because he doesn't think he can beat that guy doesn't mean he's not going to still try. He's been depressed and quiet these past few days because he's trying to figure out a way he can protect you."

"I…had no idea."

"In any case," Zoro said as he scratched his head, "you should just concentrate on taking care of your sister for now." He turned to go back to his nap spot on the deck.

"Zoro," Nami said.

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

The swordsman nodded.

Nami left the deck to go back to her room.

"Oi, Zoro," Usopp said. "That was a pretty nice thing you did there."

Zoro ignored his long-nosed crewmate.

"So you do have a soft side, huh?" Usopp kept poking at him.

"Yeah, you helped Nami feel better!" Chopper said happily.

"Stop making this into a big deal," Zoro said grumpily.

"But it is a big deal, Zoro," Chopper said.

"And I've got it all recorded on this tone dial to commemorate the event!" Usopp said proudly holding up the shell.

"You what?" Zoro raged, his eyes darkening like a storm cloud.

"AHHHH!" Usopp screamed like a little girl and ran for his life.

"Usopp, give me that dial!" Zoro roared as he chased Usopp around and around the deck in circles.

"N-n-never!" Usopp shouted back. "You know how much this tone dial is worth now?!" Lucky for him, he was the fastest runner of the group due to tons of experience of cowardly running away from enemies.

"Well, the ship's livened up again, I see," Franky commented to Robin.

"It certainly has," Robin said with a smile.


	14. Chapter 14: Onward to the Past

**Chapter 14**

**Onward to the Past**

Within the week, the Straw Hat Pirates were back in the East Blue. Things had gotten pretty much back to normal as long as Nami and Luffy didn't talk about what had happened up north. Luffy seemed like he was his old self again, except for the fact that he didn't try to bother Nami as much as he used to, but no one seemed to notice except for Nami. However, she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to do anything about it. In fact, it was actually kind of nice to not be bothered almost every second of the day with Luffy's ridiculous antics.

Nami had always been proud of the fact that she was such a gifted cartographer and navigator. She was also extremely sensitive to the slightest change in weather, which was why the Straw Hat Pirates never had any trouble dealing with the dangerous weather of the Grand Line, but because of these prodigious skills, she was often the target of many other pirates who wanted an exceptional navigator. Luffy and the others had had to save her multiple times because of that. The thought never crossed her mind that her skills came from something other than the fact that she was just born with them.

Now that they were back in the East Blue, it was time for Nami to decide whether to sail back to Cocoyashi so that Nojiko could continue living the quiet, peaceful life Nami knew that she loved or to go to the island where they were born.

When Bellemere had found her and Nojiko, Nami was only an infant and didn't remember anything about the island she was born on. The only one who knew which island it was was Nojiko, and she NEVER talked about it. Unlike Nami, Nojiko was old enough to remember what horrifying acts had taken place there.

While all this was running through Nami's mind, Nojiko looked worriedly at her sister. She knew that Nami wanted to find out about her past if only to prove that what Nagi said was wrong. She also knew that Nami didn't want to ask her about the island that they had come from since it was a sensitive topic, and they'd never talked about it before.

Nojiko swallowed a lump in her throat and sat down on the bed next to her sister. "Nami," she said.

"Hm?"

"You should stop looking so worried all the time," Nojiko said lightly. "Your friends are beginning to worry."

"Oh, uh, I'm not worried!" Nami said quickly.

Nojiko put a hand on Nami's head and pushed it down. "You can't fool me, little sis," she said with a laugh.

"Grr," Nami growled and pushed her sister's hand away.

"Anyway, I know that you're worried about me and you really shouldn't be," Nojiko continued.

"Huh?"

"I know you want to go to that island," Nojiko said, "and I know you want to find out about your past and prove that what Nagi said about you is wrong."

"No, no! I'm just worried about getting you home! That's all!"

"Nami," Nojiko said seriously. "I'm not afraid to talk about it anymore."

Nami paused and looked closely at her sister. "Nojiko…"

"We have to go to Eluien Island."

Eluien Island. That was the first time Nami had ever heard Nojiko say it out loud.

"It's been more than twenty years since Bellemere-san found us, huh?" Nojiko continued, a small smile crossing her face.

Nami nodded.

"It was a terrible war. I can still remember it."

"No, Nojiko! You don't have to remember!" Nami said quickly.

Nojiko shook her head. "It's ok, Nami," she said. "I'm strong. Don't worry about me. Besides, I know deep down that you want to find your past, and I'll be damned if I don't go with you." She put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "I won't let you fight on your own this time."

Nami knew that Nojiko's mind was made up. She felt terrible knowing that she was the reason why Nojiko was going to face those horrifying memories again, but she also knew that there was nothing she could do or say to change her sister's mind. "Eluien Island, huh?" Nami said sniffing back tears.

Nojiko's smile broadened and she nodded her head. "Yeah."

Nami stood up and walked towards the door. "Thanks, big sister." She exited the room to inform the crew of their new destination.

"Eluien Island?" Franky asked.

"I've never heard of it," Chopper said.

"Eluien? What does that even mean?" Usopp asked.

"It's a name," Nami said exasperated by all the comments. "It doesn't have to mean anything! More importantly you should be asking WHERE is it!"

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Sanji said. "Finding out the mysterious past of my Nami-swan! It's so romantic!"

"I've heard of Eluien Island before," Brook said mysteriously as he brought out his guitar and began strumming a chord.

"You have?" the rest of the crew asked.

The skeleton nodded his head. "The only thing that island is known for is for being the site of one of the last battles of the Great War," he said dramatically plucking the guitar strings furiously to accompany his statement.

"The Great War, huh?" Zoro said putting his hands behind his head.

"Indeed," Brook sang. "You are all too young to remember it, but I remember it like it was yesterday! Yohohoho!"

"Just get to the point!" Nami said impatiently.

"Ah, yes," Brook said as he paused his guitar playing to regain his train of thought. "It's a small island to the northeast of the old Marineford," he said quickly and with no accompaniment.

"Great, so we'll just be sailing directly into enemy territory," Usopp said sarcastically.

"But there is nothing to fear," Brook said hitting a loud chord. "Eluien Island was abandoned after the war because everything, even the very land itself, was scorched to oblivion from the fierce battle. There are no more inhabitants left on the island."

"If that's the case, then it would most likely be an overgrown wasteland by now," Sanji said.

"Precisely," Brook confirmed as he ended his impromptu guitar solo.

"I guess we won't have to worry about the Marines after all," Franky said. "They wouldn't really be keeping tabs on an island like that."

"Let's just hope that they don't see us on our way there," Chopper said worriedly. "We managed to beat fleet number seven, but we couldn't destroy all their ships. They might be regrouping and planning another attack."

"Then we'll just kick their asses again," Franky said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "No big deal."

"Oi, Luffy," Zoro called. "What do you say about all this?"

Luffy, who had been unusually quiet turned to face his crew.

They all looked back waiting to hear his answer.

Nami could only glance at him for a second before she looked down. He had been so upset about Nagi. Maybe Luffy didn't want to go with her this time.

"All right," Luffy said with his old enthusiasm. "Let's go to Eluien Island!"

Nami quickly looked up and saw that Luffy's happy-go-lucky, boyish smile was back. His eyes indicated that he was excited to go on another adventure, even if it meant facing Nagi again.

"Aye, Captain!" the crew shouted together.

Luffy caught Nami's eye and gave her a thumbs up.

Nami then remembered what Zoro had said. Maybe Luffy knew now that he could fight Nagi. Regardless, she was glad that he seemed to be back to normal. She promised herself that she would try everything in her power to make it so that she wouldn't need rescuing from Luffy or anyone else this time. What harm could be done by going to a small wasteland anyway?

The Thousand Sunny began its new course through the East Blue. It was only a few days before they were docked at the small island of Eluien. Sanji had been right. It was an overgrown wasteland. Because of the warm climate, young trees were already covering most of the remains of the small coastal towns that were destroyed by the war.

Nami kept a close eye on her sister as they left the ship. As far as she could tell, Nojiko seemed fine.

"Wow, this place really is completely uninhabited, huh?" Sanji said. "Is this really where you were born, Nami-san?"

She nodded. "I don't remember anything myself, but this is where Bellemere-san found Nojiko and me."

"The place we became a family," Nojiko added with a smile.

"Yeah!" Nami said happily.

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Usopp asked.

Nami looked down. "I'm…not sure."

"Figures," Usopp said with a sigh and put a hand on his hip.

"I guess we can go to the place I found you," Nojiko suggested.

"That sounds good," Robin said. "At least that'll give us somewhere to start."

Nojiko led the group through the young forest. The deeper they traveled into the island, the more rubble and ruins they began to see. It turned out that not everything from the towns was completely obliterated.

"It's a little hard to tell," Nojiko said looking around. "But I think this was our town."

The group looked around as well and saw the remains of some houses and other buildings. An overgrown cobblestone path weaved around the rubble. There was no doubt that at one point in time this had been a village.

"Let's follow the path," Robin suggested. "Perhaps that will help you remember the layout of the town."

Nojiko nodded. "Right."

As the group wandered around the ruins, Nami couldn't help but worry for her sister. Being back in the very place where her own family had been killed, her town destroyed, and the horrors of battle had been broadcasted before her young, innocent eyes had to have had some effect on her.

Nojiko could feel her sister's concerned gaze and tried her best to keep her expression confident. The truth was, she was terrified of coming back here, but there was no way she'd let Nami know. "This way," she said with confidence.

Finally Nojiko found the pile of rubble that was once her own home. She had only been two at the time, but she could still remember what it looked like. She took a deep breath and stepped off the path into the grass.

Usopp, Sanji, and Luffy moved to follow her, but Robin held out a hand to stop them. She knew that Nojiko needed some time to soak it all in.

"Nami," Robin said.

"Y-yes?"

"You go on ahead with Nojiko," she said. "We'll wait for you here."

Nami nodded. "Thanks, Robin." She ran to catch up with her sister.

"You think Nami-san and Nojiko-chan are ok?" Sanji asked.

"Nojiko is a very brave girl," Robin said. "She and Nami have already been through more than most people have in their lifetimes. I'm sure they'll be fine."

"Nojiko, wait up!" Nami called.

Nojiko stopped but didn't turn around.

Nami came to a halt next to her blue-haired foster sister.

"Nami," Nojiko said softly, "this was my old home. I…I can remember my mother and father…" She took in a deep breath before continuing. "In order to save us from the battle, my father told me and my mother to escape through our back door. I remember that she was crying.

"When we had reached the safety of the forest, our house went up in flames. My mother couldn't keep running and fell to her knees. She screamed my father's name over and over again. I didn't know what to do. I was so scared. We heard shouts and saw some men heading in our direction. My mother forced me to run away into the woods and to not look back. I never saw them again."

Tears had formed in Nami's eyes as she listened to her sister talk about her past for the very first time.

"I hid in the forest for days without food or water," Nojiko continued. Her voice began to waver as she also held back tears. "Then finally, as if by some miracle, I couldn't hear the sounds of battle anymore. In my childish ignorance, I ran back as fast as I could to my house only to find that it had burned to the ground."

"N-Nojiko…" Nami sniffed.

"But then I found you," Nojiko said looking at Nami. Her glistening eyes betrayed the smile on her face. "You were such a small baby, laughing like nothing was wrong in the world. I couldn't leave you there by yourself. I figured you had also lost your parents so I picked you up in my arms. That's when Bellemere-san found us."

By now both girls were crying unashamedly.

"That's right," Nami said trying not to choke on her tears.

"And just like that," Nojiko said wiping her own tears from her face. Her smile broadened as she held Nami's hands in her own. "We had a family again."


	15. Chapter 15: The Truth Revealed

**Chapter 15**

**The Truth Revealed**

Luffy, Robin, Sanji, and Usopp stood in the midst of the abandoned town waiting for their navigator and her sister. Zoro, Franky, Brook, and Chopper had stayed behind to watch the ship since they were, after all, near a Marine base.

"I can't imagine what it would be like to lose your parents like that, and then lose your foster parent the way that they did," Usopp said. "I mean, my mother died from a sickness, but my dad is still alive and out there with Shanks."

Sanji nodded. "My parents died before I was old enough to remember anything," he said lighting a cigarette. "In many ways I feel lucky it happened that way. I don't have the painful memories that Nojiko-chan and Nami-san have."

Luffy and Robin chose to remain silent as they waited for the sisters to return. Robin, too worried about her friend, did nothing but look closely toward the direction they had gone, while Luffy, although equally worried about Nami, couldn't help but wander.

Unnoticed by the others, he began to stroll around the remains of the town. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Back in the East Blue, there weren't many exotic plants or animals. Plus, Luffy had traveled to many places that had had extremely extraordinary wildlife so almost nothing surprised him anymore.

But as he got a bit further away, something caught his eye. Under a pile of rubble, something looked like it was glowing. This glow definitely did not fit in with the rest of the island.

Luffy quickly lifted the rocks and swept away the dust that covered the mysterious light. Embedded in the ground was a shimmering symbol of some sort. It was faint but there was no doubt that it gave off an unnatural light. "So cool!" he said happily. "Huh?" He looked more closely at the symbol. "I think I've seen this before," Luffy pondered to himself scratching his head. Then it hit him. "Ah! ROBIN!" he yelled.

Robin quickly snapped back to reality at the sound of her name. "What? Luffy?"

"Where'd he go?" Usopp asked.

"Nami-swan and Nojiko-chwan haven't even come back yet, and he's already gone and gotten himself lost," Sanji said with a frown.

"Robin, Sanji, Usopp!" Nami called as she and her sister ran towards the group. "Where's Luffy? We heard him shout."

"Is everything ok?" Nojiko asked worriedly.

"Everything's fine, Nojiko-chan!" Sanji said quickly. "That dumbass just got himself lost, that's all."

"I don't think so," Robin said. "Let's go find him."

The rest of the group nodded.

"ROBIN!" Luffy hollered again. "I found something!"

"No need to shout so loudly," Robin said. She and the others slowed to a walk upon seeing their captain.

"Yeah, if you shout like that then people'll think something bad's happened," Usopp said.

"Huh?" Luffy said blankly. "But Robin, Nami! I think I found something." He pointed to the ground.

The symbol was glowing much more brightly than before.

"I-it's the symbol on the pendant!" Nami gasped.

Robin quickly took out the pendant. It was glowing as well.

"No way," Sanji said amazed.

"H-h-how is that pendant glowing?" Usopp said his eyes bugging out.

"Huh? Now it's even brighter than before!" Luffy said excitedly pointing to the symbol on the ground.

"Robin, do you have any idea what's happening?" Nojiko asked hopefully.

Robin shook her head with a puzzled look on her face. "I wasn't expecting something like this," she said.

"Does this mean…that what Nagi said was true?" Nami asked the question that was on everyone else's minds.

No one seemed to want to answer.

"Nami, let's not jump to conclusions," Nojiko finally said with a light laugh. "I'll admit, this is definitely strange, but then I'm sure there have been stranger things. Maybe Nagi did something to that pendant to make it react with this symbol when they got close to each other. Maybe he was the one who put the symbol there in the first place."

"Yeah," Usopp said. "He might just be trying to trick you into thinking he's telling the truth."

Nami frowned and then kneeled down in the grass next to the symbol. With a shaky hand, she reached out and touched the edge with her fingertips.

Suddenly, incredibly strong gusts of wind shot outwards from where Nami was kneeling knocking the others away from her. They landed on the ground several feet away.

"NAMI!" Luffy shouted trying to get back up. The wind only knocked him down again.

"What's going on?!" Usopp yelled holding onto an embedded rock for dear life.

"Nami!" Nojiko also shouted.

"Nami-swaan!" Sanji joined in.

Back on the Thousand Sunny, Zoro awoke to the screaming of Chopper and Brook as the ship was rocked back and forth by a sudden powerful gust of wind. "What the?" he said bracing himself. "Franky, what the hell's going on?" he shouted.

"I don't know!" he yelled back. "All of a sudden this whirlwind hit us. I don't know if our anchor's going to hold us down!"

"AHH! AHH! AHH!" Chopper continuously screamed as he clung onto Brook who was clinging to the main mast.

"Yohohoho! Strange weather we're having today, eh?" the skeleton laughed as he held onto the mast with one hand and his hat with the other.

"How can you laugh at a time like this?!" Chopper cried.

"I'm going to throw in the second anchor!" Zoro shouted to the others.

"Oi, be careful!" Franky warned. "You might get swept off the ship!"

"Don't worry about me," Zoro said as he took out his swords. He stabbed a sword through the grassy turf on the deck and pulled himself toward the second anchor. Step by step, he stuck his swords into the ground to keep himself from being blown away. After a few more minutes, he managed to get himself over to the anchor. Then he planted both swords into the ground and held on to keep himself from being blown backwards as he stood up straight.

He bit the chain of the anchor and attempted to hoist it in the air with his incredible jaw strength. Usually this wouldn't have been a problem for him since he lifted weights far heavier than the anchor with his mouth every day in order to maintain his jaw muscles for his three-sword style, but with the wind, it was proving to be a more difficult task.

Zoro focused all his energy into his arms and jaw. "URRRRHHH!" he roared and then lifted the anchor in air and swung it over the side.

"Wow!" Chopper said his eyes bulging out. "Zoro is amazing!"

With the second anchor in the water, the Thousand Sunny stopped drifting further away from the island. A few minutes later, the wind stopped as suddenly as it had begun.

"What the hell was that?" Franky asked as he stood up.

"No idea," Zoro said and looked over to where the other half of the crew had gone. "I hope it didn't have anything to do with them."

When the wind had suddenly stopped and the dust was beginning to settle, Luffy immediately jumped up and ran back toward where the symbol and Nami were. "Nami!" he shouted.

"Nami-swan!"

"Nami!"

The others all followed closely behind the captain.

Upon reaching the site, Luffy scooted to a halt and looked frantically around the area. The redheaded navigator was nowhere to be seen.

"Oi, Nami!" Usopp called. "This isn't time to be playing hide and seek!"

"You idiot! You really think she'd be playing a game right now?!" Sanji exploded.

"Of course not!" Usopp shouted back. "It was a joke!"

"Nami!" Nojiko called. "Where is she?"

"Look," Robin gasped as she pointed to the ground.

"What is it, Robin-chan?" Sanji asked worriedly.

The group looked down at the ground where the symbol had been, only it wasn't there anymore.

"Wh-where'd it go?" Usopp freaked.

"It disappeared!" Nojiko gasped.

Luffy dropped to his knees and frantically began digging through the dirt where the symbol used to be. "Nami! Nami! Nami!" he shouted over and over again.

"Luffy, get a hold of yourself!" Robin commanded dragging Luffy back up to his feet. "She's not going to be in the ground!"

"But where did she go?!" Luffy shouted and suddenly grabbed Robin's shirt holding her up menacingly.

Robin was shocked to see the panicked look in Luffy's usually calm eyes. His entire body was shaking. "I…"

"Oi, Luffy!" Sanji said attempting to pull him away from Robin. "Stop doing that to Robin-chan!"

"Where's Nami?!" Luffy repeated again refusing to let Robin go. Never had the group seen such desperation in his eyes before.

"Luffy!" Sanji shouted and punched him in the cheek.

The impact sent Luffy stumbling backwards and he landed on the ground with a thud.

"Sanji!" Usopp said in alarm. "Isn't that going too far?"

"I don't punch people, I kick them," Sanji said coolly. "There's no way that could've hurt him."

The group looked at Luffy in silence wondering what to do.

"Nami…" Luffy said his voice cracking. He grabbed handfuls of grass and dirt and ripped them from the ground in anger. "NAMI!"


	16. Chapter 16: The Sun and the Sea

**Chapter 16**

**The Sun and the Sea**

Nami groaned as she began to regain consciousness. She slowly blinked her eyes open but had to quickly shut them again from the sheer brightness. After a minute or so of squinting and blinking, she was finally able to make out her surroundings. To her utter surprise, she was no longer down in the ruined town but instead on a grassy field. She looked behind her and saw more grass and a few trees that seemed to slope downwards. Apparently she was on the top of a cliff.

She got up slowly making sure to keep herself from getting too dizzy and made her way to the edge of the cliff. Looking over the edge, she saw that it was a straight and rocky shot down to the ocean. Nami quickly backed away from the edge scared that in her current state she might accidentally fall off.

"What the-where am I?" she said out loud. Then she noticed something else that was out of the ordinary. "And what am I wearing?" She looked herself over. Somehow she had changed out of the jeans and top she had been wearing earlier and was now dressed in a white robe that hung off one shoulder and draped down to the ground. A gold chain hung around her waist. Her long hair that had been up in a ponytail was now loose and fluttered in the breeze. Her bag was gone, all her jewelry was gone, even her shoes were gone.

"You're finally awake," a familiar voice said from behind her.

Nami jumped at the sound and quickly turned around. "You," she scowled.

"I can understand why you aren't happy to see me," Nagi said. He was also dressed in a similar white robe making his red eyes stand out even more than they had before. "I trust that by now you know I speak only the truth."

"Yeah right," Nami spat. "This is all some elaborate trick, isn't it?" She took a few steps backwards but then stopped remembering the hundred or so foot drop she had observed earlier. "What do you want from me?"

Nagi smiled. "What I want," he said slowly, "is nothing more than to be reunited with the one I lost so long ago."

"I've never met you before in my life!" Nami said her voice rising. "You've got the wrong girl!"

"No. I am sure that Izanami's spirit resides within you."

"Spirit?" Nami had witnessed countless numbers of ridiculous things in her travels, especially in the Grand Line, and most especially because she had been traveling with Luffy, but this was by far the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. "You've got to be kidding."

"It's no joke," Nagi said his expression suddenly turning dark. "When you came into this world, our symbol of the sun and the sea was inscribed into the very ground on which you were born, but no one noticed because it was, of course, underneath the home you were living in. That symbol is the mark of our union, our task that we were given by the gods. When we disobeyed them, they punished us with eternal separation and transformed our symbol into the seal that made it so." He held up the pendant except it had a newly formed crack straight down the middle of it.

Nami couldn't help but gasp upon seeing it. How'd he get a hold of it?

"Now that you have returned to your place of birth and touched the seal that imprisoned Izanami on this earth, she can be freed from her bonds and regain her true form," Nagi said throwing the pendant on the ground between them.

It began to radiate a brilliant light, and suddenly the ground surrounding it lit up in the pattern of the symbol as well. It too had a fissure running straight through the sun and the sea.

Nami shielded her eyes from the intense light. "No," she gasped as her knees collapsed beneath her. She fell to the ground in the realization that everything Nagi had said was indeed true.

"It's useless to resist," Nagi said. "Izanami must be freed. This is your true destiny."

After practically dragging the hysterical Luffy back to the Thousand Sunny, Robin and the others began to discuss what course of action they should take.

"Nami disappeared?!" Chopper cried waving his tiny arms in the air.

"How'd it happen?" Franky asked. "It didn't have to do with that whirlwind that hit us before, did it?"

Robin nodded. "It did," she said. "The windstorm began right when Nami touched the glowing symbol on the ground."

"And then when it stopped, Nami was gone!" Usopp said waving his arms in the air looking a lot like Chopper.

"Not only that, but the pendant I was holding onto disappeared as well," Robin said.

"All this sounds fishy to me," Zoro said crossing his arms.

"If this Nagi guy does have some sort of special ability then maybe he kidnapped Nami while you guys were all blown back by the wind," Franky suggested.

"What kind of power would he have?" Usopp asked. "If it's a devil fruit power than he should only be able to control whatever that fruit gave him power over. There's no such thing as a devil fruit giving a person control over multiple things."

"I agree," Sanji said. "In order to pull this off, that guy would have had to have three things." Sanji held up his index finger, "One, the power to control wind," he put up another finger, "two, have the ability to either move faster than light or teleport, and…" he clenched his hand in a fist, "be a complete asshole for taking my Nami-swaaaan!"

"You don't need a devil fruit to be an asshole, asshole," Zoro muttered.

"What did you say, marimo?!"

"Stop it," Robin ordered harshly. "We have to think of what we should do."

"What if Nagi somehow took Nami all the way back up to the North Pole?" Nojiko said worriedly. "He told me that he couldn't be outside of that island's barrier for long periods of time because someone was hunting him, but I don't know if we'd be able to get there in time to save her!"

"All the way back north?" Brook asked. "My goodness this is going to be quite the trip."

"No."

The others all turned to Luffy who had been quiet up until that point.

"Nami is still here," he said without looking up.

"How do you know?" Zoro asked.

"I…have a feeling…"

The others looked at Robin wondering what she thought they should do.

The options played themselves over in the archaeologist's mind as she pondered their situation. If Luffy's feeling was correct and Nami was still on the island, then they would most definitely stay here and search for her. But if he was wrong, then they would waste at least a week, and by the time they got to the frozen island at the North Pole it would most likely be too late to save Nami. On the other hand, if they left the island now to go back north, and Luffy did turn out to be right, then they wouldn't know until they had reached the North Pole meaning that they would waste two or more weeks. Both options weren't looking so good.

Luffy slammed his hands on the table. "Trust me!" he shouted, his voice wavering. "I know she's still here!"

Right at that moment, Chopper noticed something out of the corner of his eye. "EH?" he squealed as he pointed a shaking hoof towards the island.

"AHH! Don't scare me like that!" Usopp screamed jumping back in surprise.

"LOOK!" Chopper yelled.

The others turned their gaze in the direction Chopper was pointing. A beam of light was shooting off the top of the tallest cliff on the island looking almost as if it were cutting the sky.

"NAMI!" Luffy shouted and immediately leapt off the ship and started running towards the cliff.

"Come on! We have to follow him!" Zoro yelled.

"Oh no!" Brook said pointing a bony finger at the ocean.

"What?" Zoro barked but then saw what had upset the skeleton.

"F-f-fleet number seven," Usopp stuttered, his knees quaking with fear.

"What? Those bastards couldn't have picked a worse time!" Franky growled. "You guys go and save Nami. I'll handle these guys."

"Chopper, you and I should also help Franky," Brook said to the small reindeer.

"But Nami-"

"I'll save her for sure," Sanji said giving Chopper a thumbs-up.

"Sanji…"

"All right, you three stay here," Zoro ordered. "The rest of you come with me!"

Luffy had already gotten very far ahead of the rest of his crew as he sprinted through the forest. Nami was the only thing running through his mind as he ran. He punched his way through boulders, trees, anything that stood in his path to the beam of light. Soon he was at the bottom of the cliff and he immediately began scrambling up the steep slope.

The others finally caught up to the point where they could see Luffy only to find that he was already halfway up the slope.

"Damn, he's fast," Zoro said under his breath and then began to scramble up the cliff after his captain.

Even Usopp was out of breath. "I've…never seen him run so fast before!" he gasped as he too began to scale the cliff.

"Nami-san, please wait for me!" Sanji shouted.

Nojiko, who couldn't keep up with the others, slumped to the ground exhausted.

"Nojiko, are you all right?" Robin asked kneeling down to help the blue-haired girl up.

"I'm fine," Nojiko gasped. "Please, go save Nami. I'll catch up when I can!"

Robin nodded her head and then began to climb the slope.

Luffy reached the top in record time and saw Nagi standing with his back towards him. "NAGI!" he bellowed as he stretched back his fist for a Pistol punch.

Nagi didn't even turn around as Luffy's fist collided with what Luffy thought was Nagi's head.

Suddenly, Luffy began to feel an intense heat on his hand. He snapped his fist back and saw that it was burned almost black.

"I see your friends have arrived," Nagi said to Nami.

"Luffy!" Nami gasped.

Luffy shook out his hand and began to barrage Nagi with his Gatling Gun punches. When he stopped, Nagi had still not even turned to face him, and both of Luffy's hands were scorched black. His skin was peeling back from the intense burns he had received.

Finally Nagi looked over his shoulder at the bewildered young Pirate King. "Like I said before, I dislike violence," Nagi said coldly. "But you are interrupting the ritual, so I will honor your challenge." Nagi then turned to fully face Luffy.

"No! Luffy! Run away!" Nami screamed desperately.

"No!" Luffy shouted. "I won't lose you, Nami! Not now, not ever!"

A gasp escaped Nami's lips. "Luffy…"

Nagi's eye twitched as a deep frown crossed his face. "You don't know who you're dealing with, boy," he said harshly. "Nami is destined to free Izanami's spirit and in order to do so, she will have to die."

"Die?" Luffy growled.

Nagi lifted a hand to the heavens and began to gather light. Both Nami and Luffy were forced to shield their eyes to keep themselves from going blind. "The ritual is almost complete," Nagi's voice resounded through the air. "I've waited millions of years for this moment and I will not have it ruined by the likes of you!" Nagi closed his hand that had gathered the light and then threw it open in front of him releasing a beam straight at Luffy.

"LUFFY!" Nami screamed. The light was so intense that Nami had to cover her eyes again.

"I'm afraid, he is no more," Nagi said turning back to Nami.

"You BASTARD!" Nami shrieked. She ran toward Nagi, her fist raised in the air to punch him.

Nagi easily caught Nami's wrist and pulled her down to her knees. "Now, the ritual can be complete," he said as he brought out a golden knife that had the same symbol of the sun and the sea etched onto its handle.

"No!" Nami cried hysterically.

"NO!" Luffy's voice shouted. Two rubber arms extended around Nagi and wrapped themselves around his waist. Luffy then picked Nagi up and threw him to the side. When he let go, his arms were sizzling and blackened with burns.

"Luffy!" Nami shouted and quickly ran over to him.

He was shaking in pain at the severe burns he had received but he was still standing. "Get…behind me, Nami," he managed to say between winces of pain.

Nagi picked himself up from the ground and calmly dusted himself off. "I must warn you, Pirate King, the more you attack me the more burns you will receive."

Luffy glared at Nagi and put a blackened arm out in front of Nami. "This is nothing," he said with a forced smile.

"I'm going to ask you to hand her over peacefully," Nagi said sternly. "I resort to violence only when absolutely necessary. I'm sure you know that you can't possibly defeat me, so don't throw your own life away for a hopeless cause!"

"Someone's overconfident," Luffy said with a laugh.

"Luffy! Nami!" Usopp shouted. He was the first of the others to get to the top. The sharpshooter scooted to a halt upon seeing Nagi for the first time as sweat began to form on his skin. "I-i-is that N-N-Nagi?" he stuttered as he shakily pulled out his Helmet slingshot.

"Both of you stop!" Nami screamed. "There's no way we can win! Just run and save yourselves!"

"Nami?" Usopp said.

Luffy ignored her and began to run straight toward Nagi.

"No! Luffy!"

Usopp immediately unleashed an attack. "Heavenly Dragon Star!" he yelled. The lightening dragon whizzed past both Luffy and Nagi and erupted in the heavens.

Luffy saw the cue and prepared his attack. "Third Gear! GUM GUM GIANT THOR AXE!" he bellowed as the he lifted his blown up leg into the air. Usopp's lightening dragon encircled Luffy's leg, and the blazing axe smashed down onto Nagi in an explosion of debris and electricity.

It was then that the others appeared on the scene.

"Hahaha!" Usopp crowed as he pounded his chest. "You guys are too late! We already finished him off!"

"What?!" Sanji screamed. "You mean I was too late to save my Nami-swan by myself!"

Usopp laughed. "That's right. I, the great Captain Usopp, am now the fair maiden's hero!"

"I don't think we should celebrate yet," Robin said pointing to the cloud of smoke that was now dissipating.

Usopp's jaw dropped open when he saw Nagi's outline in the settling dust.

Nagi was still standing perfectly unharmed. His blazing eyes narrowed at the group.

"Luffy!" Nami gasped and ran over to a limp form on the ground.

Luffy coughed as he tried to clear his lungs from the dust. "N-Nami," he managed to say.

Then Nami saw Luffy's leg. A massive burn covered almost the entirety of his lower right leg. The flesh had been burned away almost to the bone. Nami immediately covered her mouth to keep from throwing up. She had never seen an injury like this before. She shook her head and swallowed her urge to puke. "Luffy, you have to get out of here!" she finally managed to say.

"No…" He was losing consciousness from the pain.

"Usopp! Help me!" Nami screamed.

Suddenly Robin's devil fruit hands appeared and picked Luffy up. They proceeded to pass him back over to where the group was standing.

Nami looked back and saw her comrades. "You guys!" she said in relief and ran back towards them.

"That guy's strong," Usopp quaked in fear.

Zoro narrowed his eyes. "You guys get Luffy and Nami out of here," he ordered. "I'll handle this bastard."

"I'll stay as well," Sanji said his eyes glowering in anger.

Nagi then whipped his hand through the air in a horizontal line. A wall of fire flared up behind the Straw Hats blocking any escape. It blazed high into the sky but didn't spread down the slope like a normal fire keeping them trapped. "You really think I'd let you take Izanami away when I've been waiting so patiently all this time?" he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Zoro and Sanji rushed forward. "Stay back!" Zoro shouted at the rest of the group.

"This is for Nami-san!" Sanji roared.

"No! Zoro! Sanji!" Nami screamed.

Then suddenly an unseen force knocked both the swordsman and the cook back.

"Huh? What the?" Sanji yelled.

Nagi raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know who these weak humans are, but I won't let them take even an iota of my revenge," an ominous, evil voice filled the air.

"What the hell?" Zoro said as he stood up again. His three swords were cocked and ready for action.

Out of nowhere, a burst of smoke filled the air causing Zoro and Sanji to cough and choke.

When the smoke lifted, the strangest, most disgusting being had appeared in between the two pirates and Nagi. He had long black hair and equally long black nails that hung down from his claw-like fingers, but that wasn't nearly what was so strange about him. His body was hanging limply in the air, but his feet weren't touching the ground. In fact, his feet looked more like flesh-colored rags than feet. His entire body looked similar. Even his neck couldn't support the weight of his head so it hung droopily off to the side. His black eyes gazed upward at Nagi.

"I see you've found me," Nagi said calmly. "Hiruko."


	17. Chapter 17: The Devil

**Chapter 17**

**The Devil**

"What the hell is that thing?!" Usopp squealed. He began backing away but then felt the heat from the wall of fire behind him and stopped.

"What?" Sanji gasped. His entire body was shaking uncontrollably. He hadn't even been able to pick himself up from the ground. "What is this?"

Zoro had managed to stand but was frozen in place. "I…can't…move," he struggled to say. For the first time in his life he felt his swords slip out of his grip. They fell unthreateningly to the ground.

"No, it can't be," Robin gasped.

"How are you, my dear father?" the limp being named Hiruko sneered. Black smoke seemed to drip out of his mouth with every word.

"I was wondering when you'd show yourself," Nagi said with a frown. "It has been a while."

"Try millions of years," he breathed. "I've waited for this moment, Father, to finally have my revenge!"

"I'm busy at the moment," Nagi said unwaveringly.

"All the more reason to interfere. I won't let you bring Mother back from her eternal slumber."

"You can't stop me," Nagi scowled.

"Perhaps," Hiruko hissed. He then began to float backwards toward the still frozen Zoro and Sanji.

_Move, you idiot!_ Zoro shouted at himself. _MOVE!_

_ What's happening to me? _Sanji thought. _It feels like all my strength is gone._

Hiruko sailed directly in between them taking no interest whatsoever.

"R-R-Robin?" Usopp stuttered now shaking uncontrollably with horror as he watched the terrible being come ever closer to them. "W-w-what is that thing?!"

"So the legend is true," Robin faltered. She fell to her knees, completely unable to support her own body weight any more. "That thing…is Hiruko, the leech child…the devil."

"D-d-devil?" Usopp couldn't take it anymore. He lost all consciousness and dropped to the ground.

Nami shut her eyes tightly and grasped onto Luffy attempting to shield him with her body.

"N-Nami," Luffy gasped trying to push her away. "Save…yourself."

"No, Luffy!" Nami cried. "I-I'm going to protect you!" Although she couldn't see Hiruko approaching, she could feel the intense evil pouring out from his body. She was shaking uncontrollably but willed herself to stay.

"I'm going to kill this one," Hiruko hissed as he drew ever nearer to Nami and Luffy. "I'm going to kill her before you can complete the ritual!"

Faster than lightening, Nagi appeared in between his devil son and the two helpless humans. "Come any closer and I won't hesitate to kill you," Nagi warned.

"Kill me?" Hiruko scoffed. His limp lips turned upwards in a sickening smile. "You really think you can kill me?" he laughed.

Nagi narrowed his eyes.

"Well, if you're so confident, my dearest father, then let us see what you can do!" With that, Hiruko launched his limp arms toward Nagi. A pillar of black smoke shot forward.

Nagi caught the pillar in his hands and managed to stop it from going any further, but the impact caused his feet to dig into the ground. With a small grunt, Nagi pushed it over to the side, and the black smoke shot out over the cliff and across the ocean causing waves to appear.

Hiruko only laughed even though his attack had been deflected. He then shot two streams of smoke at his father, but this time they snaked around Nagi's body and tightened, binding his arms against his body. The black smoke started to catch fire after touching Nagi but more billowed out of Hiruko's hands continuously replacing what was burned away.

"Now, move aside," Hiruko said and he lifted Nagi off the ground with his smoke and tossed him to the side.

Nami turned her head only slightly to see what had happened but then caught sight of the terrible creature. She let out a blood-curdling scream and buried her head into Luffy's chest.

Luffy wrapped an arm around Nami's shaking body wincing in pain as he did so. He then hoisted himself up and moved so that he was shielding her. "Gum Gum-"

A ring of black smoke snaked its way around Luffy's neck and tightened, cutting him off mid-attack.

"Oh, so you have a devil fruit power," Hiruko said with a hint of glee in his voice. "I'm sorry, but that won't work on me." He picked Luffy up with his smoke so that Luffy's body hung above the ground.

Luffy gasped for air and attempted to pull the smoke off of his neck. The string that kept Luffy's hat on disintegrated on contact with the deadly smoke, and the straw hat floated to the ground next to a now unconscious Nami.

"Even if your devil fruit ability is one of the most powerful, you won't be able to do a thing to me," Hiruko laughed, "for I am their creator." Hiruko then caught sight of Robin who, although unable to move, still had the strength to observe the horrifying scene in front of her. "Oh, this one too," Hiruko said and dragged Robin over to him using the black smoke. "Well, let me explain something to you devil fruit users since you're about to die anyway." He then threw both Luffy and Robin back toward where the knocked-out Usopp was lying.

"Devil fruits were my revenge upon my father and mother's pitiful creation," he said billowing more smoke out from his hands. "As you well know, the fruits give their eaters exceptional powers. With weak-minded beings such as yourselves, I knew that if I gave these powers to a select few, then the whole human race would be thrown into chaos and war. It gave me great satisfaction to know that you and your kind have done my bidding so beautifully." He laughed maliciously.

"You sure like to talk a lot," Luffy laughed back as he shakily came to his feet. He was breathing hard but a smile had crossed his face.

Hiruko's laugh turned into a menacing growl. "Don't you dare talk back to me, you insignificant worm!" He launched a pillar of smoke at Luffy and Robin.

Luffy quickly grabbed Robin and Usopp and jumped to the side, barely dodging the deadly attack.

"Luffy…" Robin gasped.

Luffy nodded at his companion and then turned to face Hiruko again. "You don't scare me!" he yelled.

"HRRRAAAAWWWR!" Hiruko bellowed as he shot pillar after pillar of smoke at the rubber Pirate King.

Using his Haki, Luffy managed to dodge every single one of them despite the serious injuries he had received from Nagi. However, Luffy knew that if this went on for much longer then he would eventually tire out and be unable to keep up with the vicious attacks. He tried to think of a way he could go on the offensive instead of being stuck in the defensive.

Although all the strength had seemed to be zapped from her body, at the sight of her captain giving his all to protect her and the others, Robin forced herself to stand. "Cien Fleur," she said crossing her arms in front of her.

One hundred arms sprouted all over Hiruko's body grabbing onto the devil's limp arms and legs.

Robin flinched in pain. Just by touching his body, her arms began to disintegrate, almost as if they were touching acid, but she forced herself to keep her devil arms in place. Although Hiruko's black smoke was powerful, his actual body shouldn't be since he had no bones to move them with. Robin had observed that whenever Hiruko had moved in order to attack, he had used the black smoke on himself to swing his limbs in the direction he wanted. Robin used this to her advantage and with her numerous devil arms she forced Hiruko's arms behind his back and held him in a locked position. "AHHHH!" Robin cried in pain and determination as she held him back. Acid burns began to appear all over her body, but she refused to let him go.

Luffy took this opportunity to get close to Hiruko. "Third Gear! GUM GUM GIANT PISTOL!" Luffy roared as his fist blew up to a monstrous size. The punch made contact with the leech sending him flying out over the cliff.

Robin, having recalled her devil arms just before Luffy had punched Hiruko, now slumped to the ground. Smoke was rising from her burns.

"Robin!" Luffy called looking back at her.

"I'm fine," Robin said shakily.

But Hiruko wasn't out for the count just yet. Faster than a blink of an eye, he shot his body forward toward Luffy attempting to consume him in black smoke.

"LUFFY, WATCH OUT!" Robin screamed.

Luffy only had the time to turn his head to see what was happening.

Just when Hiruko was about to make contact with his target he was suddenly stopped. "What?!" he hissed.

Zoro and Sanji had miraculously managed to get in between Hiruko and Luffy. Zoro had blocked Hiruko's brutal assault with his swords while Sanji had aimed a kick at Hiruko's head. The smoke protected Hiruko from the vicious kick, but with both of the men's attacks combined, it was enough to counter Hiruko's own attack on their captain.

"RWAAAAARRR!" Zoro and Sanji both shouted as they tried to push Hiruko back away from Luffy and the others.

The three then split from each other.

"You dare touch me?!" Hiruko fumed. "You pathetic humans!" He ferociously sent out four separate columns of smoke, one wrapping around each of his four attackers.

Zoro and Sanji screamed in pain, while Robin completely lost consciousness. Luffy, although also in pain, grabbed onto the smoke and attempted to pull it off, but it was a hopeless cause.

Just when all seemed to be lost, they heard the sound of a booming voice that echoed throughout the entire island. "Hiruko!"

Luffy managed to turn his head toward the voice.

Nagi was standing, completely free of any black smoke. His entire body was shining like the sun as he gathered light into his hands. "This has gone far enough," Nagi's thunderous voice shook the very ground.

Hiruko seemed to be frozen as the light from Nagi's body pierced through his black smoke. His four victims dropped to the ground.

"I never wanted it to turn out this way," Nagi said.

"NOOOO!" Hiruko shrieked in fury. His eyes were locked onto his father and he seemed unable to look away although the shining brilliance of the light began to cause his eyes to shrivel. "NOOOO!" A massive wall of light shot straight through Hiruko's limp body making the devil scream in agony. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? FATHER!" His grating cry shook the cliff and trees causing rocks to tumble down to the watery depths below.

"I'm sorry…my son."

"NOOOO! NOOOO! NOOOOOOOOO!"

The light grew stronger and soon it became completely blinding. A second later, it vanished making everything look as if it were nighttime even though it was still early afternoon. Then slowly the light from the sun began to trickle back down to the island. Hiruko was nowhere to be found.

Nagi fell to one knee panting heavily.

Luffy, unable to believe what he had just witnessed, pushed himself up. "He's gone," he said.

Nagi looked up to see Luffy standing and he quickly pushed himself up as well. "Yes, he is."

The two stood silently for a moment staring at each other with mixed emotions of hatred, anger, and respect.

"I suppose, I must thank you, Monkey D. Luffy," Nagi finally said.

"For what?"

"If you and your friends were not here, I would've been unable to protect Izanami from his attacks," Nagi said.

Luffy's expression darkened at the mention of Izanami.

Nagi took notice and hardened his own expression. "Still, I cannot allow you to stop me from completing the ritual." He held out his hand and Nami's unconscious body miraculously appeared before him.

"What the?" Luffy quickly looked behind him to see that Nami's body was indeed not where he had left her. His treasured straw hat that he had received from Red Shanks so long ago had been blown close to the edge of the cliff by the wind, but at the moment, Luffy didn't care if it fell. He turned back to Nagi, his eyes filled with rage. "Give her back!" he yelled.

"I'm sorry," Nagi said with true sincerity. "But this is something that cannot be undone. It is our destiny." He then took out the golden hilted knife.

"NO!" Luffy shouted and ran towards him.

"Stay back!" Nagi commanded creating a ring of fire that surrounded Luffy stopping him in his tracks.

"No! Nami!" Luffy shouted as he tried to find a way out of the flames.

"The blood of the vessel holding thy spirit," Nagi chanted as he knelt down and sliced Nami's hand with the knife. Her blood stained the silver blade. Nagi then got up and walked over to the edge of the cliff. He held out the knife over the sea and tilted the blade so that Nami's blood dripped off the tip.

The drops of blood fell down to the ocean's surface and then became one with the sea. Right at the moment of impact, waves began to form. The water began to move in a circular motion, foaming and frothing on the surface. Soon a gigantic whirlpool churned the ocean's surface below the cliff.

It was at that moment when Nami finally came to. "What?" she said groggily. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her hand. She looked down and saw she had been cut, and blood was now trickling down her arm staining her white robe. "Blood?"

"Nami," Nagi said looking back at her. "It is time."

Nami gasped at the sight of her captor's blazing red eyes. "Time?" she managed to say.

"Your friends have been beaten," Nagi said. "Even now they are helpless to save you."

Nami looked back only to see all of her comrades lying unconscious on the ground, except Luffy who was still trapped in the ring of fire.

"Nami!" Luffy shouted desperately.

"You now have a choice," Nagi said grabbing Nami's arm. He lifted her up forcing her to stand. "You must throw yourself into the sea, or your friends will die before your very eyes!"

"What…"

"Nami! Don't do it!" Luffy continued to shout.

"Even the three still on your ship," Nagi continued. "I won't spare a single one."

Nami looked over the edge of the cliff to see the swirling, deadly waters below. Her heart seemed to stop beating as she gasped for air. "I'm…I'm really going to die…" she said hollowly.

"Yes," Nagi said.

"Nami, don't listen to that bastard!" Luffy yelled. It was now or never. He would rescue Nami or he would die trying. Luffy gathered his strength and burst through the wall of fire.

"What?" Nagi said and turned towards him.

"AHHHHH!" Luffy roared as he ran straight for Nagi. His entire body was being eaten alive by the flames, but in his anger Luffy didn't feel it.

"How stubborn can you be?" Nagi fumed. He quickly blocked several lightening fast punches that were aimed for his head and then he grabbed Luffy by the neck and held him up.

"No! Stop!" Nami screamed grasping onto Nagi's arm. "Let him go!"

"If you don't want to see this boy die then jump!" Nagi ordered. His voice resonated through the air.

"No…Nami…" Luffy was quickly losing air.

"If you jump, I will not harm him or the others any longer," Nagi said.

"Don't…listen to him…"

Nami looked from Luffy to Nagi and then back to Luffy. "Luffy…" She felt her heart rate increase dramatically as she backed up towards the edge of the cliff.

"Nami…" Luffy gasped and reached out his hand toward her.

Tears began streaming down Nami's face. "I'm sorry." With those final words, she turned and jumped off the edge of the cliff.

"NOOOOO!" Luffy screamed as he attempted to elongate his arm to catch her before she fell too far down.

Nagi grabbed Luffy's hands before they could stretch out and bent them backwards. "It is done," he said.


	18. Chapter 18: The End and the Beginning

**Chapter 18**

**The End and the Beginning**

_I'm going to die,_ Nami thought as she plummeted toward the swirling waters. _Everyone…_ The faces of her companions flashed through her mind. Brook, Franky, and Chopper. Usopp, Sanji, and Zoro. Robin, Nojiko. Luffy…

She hit the water with incredible force. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs, and her body began to be tossed about by the waves dragging her ever deeper into her watery grave. She couldn't even struggle against it. Her arms and legs felt like lead quickening the pace of her descent through the water. Her lungs had already begun to fill and screamed in agony at the lack of oxygen.

When she had sunk below the rapids, the water suddenly calmed and she could vaguely make out the light from the sun shining through. Then she lost all consciousness.

Time seemed to stop. Everything was quiet now. No more fear. No more pain. So this is what it felt like to be dead…

Nami's eyes shot open. "What?" she gasped as she pushed herself up. She wasn't dead? Or maybe she was and now she was a spirit of some sort. She looked around her. A vast expanse of white nothingness surrounded the young girl. There was no ocean, no island. There wasn't even the sun anymore. It was all just…white.

"Where am I?" she asked herself and stood up. She noticed that her robe and hair weren't wet at all. The cut on her hand was still there though.

"Nami," the most melodic voice filled the air.

Nami gasped and turned toward the sound. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened at what she saw.

Before her stood the most beautiful woman she had ever laid eyes on. Her hair was silvery blue, and her skin was a soft pale pearl. Her eyes were also blue and seemed to contain the depth of all the oceans in them. The woman was wearing exactly the same robe that Nami was wearing except hers didn't have any dirt or blood on it.

"Wh-who are you?" Nami stammered not because she was afraid but rather because she was completely awestruck.

"I am the spirit of the one who resided in you," the woman said.

"Iza…nami?"

"Yes." Her tone of voice was filled with emotion as she spoke.

"Am I…am I dead?" Nami asked.

Izanami smiled sadly and put a hand on Nami's shoulder. "Your spirit is no longer attached to your body as mine is also no longer."

"NAMI!" Luffy screamed. With an incredible show of strength, he broke free from Nagi's hold and immediately jumped off the cliff. He was going to save her no matter what. As a devil fruit user, Luffy knew he couldn't swim, but that didn't seem to register in his mind as he plummeted to the ocean.

Soon, Luffy's body hit the water, and he felt the weakening paralysis start to overtake him. _No!_ he yelled at himself and fought with every ounce of strength he had left to swim. He sank below the surface much more quickly than a normal person would because of the devil fruit and soon he saw Nami's lifeless body. He squinted his eyes in an attempt to see her more clearly through the water. Even though it was hopeless, he struggled against the sea that unrelentingly surrounded him like a tomb.

For some reason, Nami felt extreme respite and comfort at the woman's touch even though she had just told her she was dead.

"I must ask you to forgive my brother," Izanami continued. "He has acted wrongly, and I will take the blame."

Nami stared at her with a confused look.

Just then, a number of other beautiful, heavenly beings appeared behind Izanami. Each was dressed in a similar white robe.

"I have asked the gods for permission to return you to life," Izanami said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Return me to life?" Nami asked. "But won't that mean…"

"Yes. I have decided that it is far better for me to return to my eternal slumber than to take an innocent life for my own selfish desires," Izanami said.

"Izanami…"

"We will grant this wish," a deep, resounding voice filled the emptiness. "And we will also grant another."

The goddess of the sea turned to face the other heavenly beings in surprise.

The largest of the beings nodded his graceful, bearded head. "Izanagi has done wrong," he said, "but his heart has not fallen to evil. Your willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of an innocent life has brought us to this decision."

The other gods and goddess all nodded their heads and whispers of "yes" floated through the expanse.

The leader of the gods brought out his staff. "Return this young girl's spirit back to her body," he commanded. "As for you, Izanami, you will stay on the earth as the spirit of the sea, while your brother must remain the spirit of the sun. However, the bridge from the heavens will reach down to the earth once a year. It is at those times you may meet and be together."

Glistening tears began to flow down Izanami's cheeks. "Your mercy sees no boundaries, my Lord," she said, her singing voice wavering. "I am unworthy of such a gracious verdict!"

The god smiled and laid a hand on Izanami's head. "It is time."

Izanami nodded and turned back toward Nami. "The gift of life," she said softly as she reached out her hand. A soft blue light emanated from her skin. Then Izanami gently touched Nami's forehead. "I give to you."

Nami felt her eyes grow heavy and once again she fell back into nothingness.

Nami's head burst through the surface of the water and she instinctively took in a massive breath of air. Oxygen flowed back through her body as she gasped air in and out over and over again. She then felt someone's arm surround her waist and she was dragged through the water. Soon she and her savior had reached the shore.

Nami sputtered and coughed up a large quantity of seawater as she tried to get a grip on what was happening. Didn't she just…die? She then turned her head to see who had rescued her. "L-Luffy?!" she gasped.

Luffy was lying next to her on the shore also coughing up seawater. He was breathing heavily but managed a smile. "Nami…"

"How did…what the…this is…you saved me?!" Nami stuttered incredulously.

"Yeah."

"You can SWIM?!"

Luffy's small smile turned into an all-out grin.

"How is that possible?" Nami asked completely bewildered.

"Dunno," Luffy said with a shrug as he turned so that he was lying on his back.

"What happened?"

"When you jumped off the cliff I jumped in after you," Luffy said simply. "Then when I hit the water I started to sink, but then I heard this woman's voice. After that my legs and arms started to move again, and I just started swimming."

Nami's jaw dropped.

"Hey, does that mean I can swim now?" Luffy asked as he miraculously jumped up full of his usual energy. "YAHOO!" He ran back over to the water and jumped in.

Nami couldn't believe that he was already up and moving around like he was. She was utterly exhausted. A few seconds later…

"NAMI! I'M SINKING! SAVE MEEEEE!"

Nami smacked her own forehead and then ran over to the water and jumped in to save her flailing captain.

A few minutes later, the two were back on the beach both completely out of breath again.

"Luffy, you're such an idiot," Nami panted. Normally she would've bonked him on the head or something but she was too tired to do that now.

Luffy only laughed and then rolled to his side so that he could look at Nami.

Nami couldn't help but join in the laughter.

Luffy then extended his hand and gently touched Nami's wet cheek with his fingers.

She looked up into his eyes. "Luffy…?"

His boyish grin turned into a soft smile. He leaned his head down so that his forehead touched hers.

At first Nami was surprised at his sudden show of affection, but then that same soft smile crossed her own lips.

The two looked into each other's eyes saying nothing, because there was nothing that needed to be said.

"OI! LUFFY! NAMI!"

The two broke from each other's gaze and turned toward the voice.

It was Usopp and all the others running toward them.

"Hey, guys!" Luffy said in his usual happy-go-lucky way.

"Oh…my…goodness," Usopp cried as he flung his arms around both Luffy and Nami. "You guys gave me a heart attack! I thought that you were gonna DIE!" He began sobbing like a maniac.

"Stop crying," Nami said with a laugh. "I thought you were supposed to be the fearless Captain Usopp."

Usopp flinched at the statement and then cleared his throat as he quickly stood back up. "Ahem, that's right!" he said with a laugh, but his eyes were still weeping with joy.

"You guys ok?" Zoro asked with a smirk. "Had us scared for a minute there." In his hand was Luffy's straw hat. Apparently, the swordsman had managed to save it from being blown away.

"My hat!" Luffy said excitedly.

Zoro grinned and tossed it over to his captain. "You should take better care of this thing," he joked.

Luffy laughed as he caught his most prized possession. "Thanks, Zoro!"

"Nami-swan!" Sanji cried giving her a hug. "I was so worried!" He began sobbing into her shoulder.

Nami looked over at Luffy who had now begun to laugh at how much of a crybaby Sanji was. Nami patted Sanji on the shoulder sheepishly.

"I'm so glad you're both all right," Robin said with a sigh of relief.

"ALL RIGHT?!" Chopper squealed his eyes bugging out. "They need a doctor and quick!" He began running around in circles completely in hysterics.

"Chopper, that's you," Franky said crossing his arms.

The small reindeer stopped. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm the doctor!" He immediately pulled out a first aid kit from seemingly nowhere and set to work on cleaning Luffy's injuries.

Franky laughed and then turned to Luffy. "I never doubted you for a second, Captain," he said with a salute.

"Thanks, Franky," Luffy said saluting the cyborg back.

"This calls for a song of celebration!" Brook sang and whipped out his fiddle. "We shall sing and dance the night away!"

"And eat the night away!" Luffy added enthusiastically.

"Yeah!" Usopp said and punched the air. "Sanji, you have to cook up everything we've got! We're gonna feast tonight!"

Sanji nodded. "You got it."

While the others were happily dancing and singing about the upcoming feast, Nami looked over and saw her sister. She had a smile on her face, but her eyes looked like they had shed many tears.

Nami pushed herself up and made her way over to Nojiko. "Sister," she said.

"Sister," Nojiko said with a small laugh. Tears began to well up her eyes again. "I'm so thankful…you're ok!" She threw her arms around Nami and the two girls wept tears of joy together.

"Everyone, stop!" Chopper roared.

Everyone obeyed more out of surprise than because they had actually listened to the tiny reindeer.

"We all need to go back to the ship now!" Chopper ordered. "First thing's first: we get our injuries fixed up."

"Geez, Chopper, don't be such a party pooper," Usopp huffed.

Chopper shot his long-nosed crewmate the evil eye making Usopp slightly regret his comment but then the reindeer began to laugh. "And then we can party all night!"  
"Yeah!"

With that, the Straw Hat Pirates returned to the Thousand Sunny and did just as the reindeer instructed. Soon they were all bandaged up and back to dancing and singing in victory. If anyone knew anything about the Straw Hat Pirates, it was that they definitely knew how to party.

"Hey, Zoro," Luffy asked in the midst of the crazy revelry that had consumed the entire ship.

"Hm?"

"What happened to Nagi anyway?"

Zoro took a swig of his beer before answering. "Dunno. All of a sudden he got this weird look in his eye and seemed to freeze. Then there was a bright flash, and when I looked back, he was gone."

"Huh. That's pretty weird."

"Eh, but I get the feeling we won't have to worry about him anymore," Zoro said and slapped Luffy on the back. "You have other things you should be worrying about."

"Huh? What other things?" Luffy asked blankly.

Zoro rolled his eyes and then grabbed Luffy's head and faced it toward where Nami was talking with Robin and Nojiko. She looked like she was completely back to normal, laughing and drinking with her two sisters.

A smile quickly formed on Luffy's face.

"Get over there, idiot," Zoro said and pushed him in the right direction.

Luffy laughed, but then turned to face his first mate one more time. He took off his straw hat and handed it to the swordsman.

"Hm?" Zoro said questioningly as he took the hat.

Luffy nodded. "I've got a more valuable treasure to take care of now."

A smile broke on Zoro's face. "Does this mean we're not gonna find Shanks?"

"No, we'll still find Shanks," Luffy said. "But for now it's not so important."

Zoro nodded and put the hat on. "Understood, Captain."

"Thanks, Zoro!"

The green-haired swordsman raised his drink to Luffy, and the rubber man nodded in approval.

Luffy walked over to the girls and joined in on their conversation. After a moment of talking, Robin and Nojiko left to let the two have some time to themselves.

"So," Nami said as she leaned back against the railing. "Pretty crazy, huh?"

"Yeah," Luffy said walking over next to her. "It sure was a crazy adventure."

Nami looked up at her captain and then shyly put her hand on his.

Luffy felt a heat bubble rise up in his chest as he looked down at their intertwined fingers.

Nami couldn't help but blush but she kept her hand where it was. "So, what do we do now?" she asked.

Luffy squeezed her hand. "That's easy," he laughed. "We'll keep sailing around the world!"

The navigator laughed as she nodded her head. She squeezed Luffy's hand back.

"Together," Luffy added.

As per usual Straw Hat procedure, the party raged on into the night. When the morning would come in the next few hours, they would set a new course, meet new friends, and have more exciting adventures. Just as they had always known, but knew now more than ever before, their true destinies lay somewhere out on the open sea waiting to be discovered.


	19. Author's Note

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading and reviewing my first story! It's been really encouraging and definitely a learning experience for me. I'm glad that it seemed like most of you enjoyed it :D

Just to clear something up, there are two reasons why I didn't have Luffy and Nami kiss at the end. One: I've tried really hard to keep the characters as similar to the originals as possible, and kissing didn't seem like a very Luffy thing to do even at the end. Which leads me to my number two reason: I am writing a sequel that deals with more of their relationship and other stuff so I wanted to save most of the romance for that one. Let me know what you guys think and/or any suggestions you might have for the sequel via review/PM!

Thanks again!

OldWineNewBottles


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